53 Killed in Houthi Missile Attack on Yemen Military Camp in Shabwa

Deadly Missile Strike on Shabwa Training Camp

Three Houthi ballistic missiles struck the Al-Alam military camp near Ataq in Yemen's Shabwa province on Monday while recruits from a newly formed brigade were lining up for training. [2] The camp belongs to Shabwa's emergency forces and was hosting soldiers during a training session at the time of the strike. [2] Yemeni armed forces spokesperson Majed al-Nuzaili said the Houthis had fired three ballistic missiles at the camp. [2] More than 53 soldiers were killed and over 200 others wounded according to the Shabwa provincial government. [1] Other reports cited at least 18 killed or over 30 killed with dozens wounded. [3] [2] A source at a government hospital told The New Arab that the number of casualties was high. [2] Video verified by Reuters from Shabwa province showed injured people and bloodied bodies scattered across the ground. [5] Social media users circulated footage purportedly showing dead and wounded soldiers scattered across the military camp following the strikes. [2] The New Arab could not independently verify the footage. [2] One Yemeni military official said the missiles struck while recruits were lining up in formation for a training session. [4] The provincial government in Shabwa said in a statement that the death toll is preliminary and may rise. [4] The recruits were receiving training to be part of internal security forces. [4]

Houthi Claim and Government Reaction

Houthi missile strike killed over 50 soldiers at Al-Alam military training camp in Shabwa, Yemen. — Source: thenewarab The Houthis acknowledged targeting the camp and claimed it was operated by Saudi officers with some killed in the attack though they provided no evidence. [4] Yemeni officials condemned the strike as a treacherous escalation. [1] The Shabwa provincial government said the scale of this tragedy cannot be met with condemnation alone but requires urgent military and security measures to prevent such attacks from recurring. [1] It called on Yemen’s president the Saudi-led coalition and the government to expedite air defense and early warning systems to reinforce Shabwa’s capabilities. [4] The head of Yemen's ruling Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi promised a firm response and said the attack reflects the Houthis’ approach of resorting to cowardly terrorist attacks whenever they face pressures or their Iranian-backed sabotage plots falter. [4] Local authority sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Houthis had launched three ballistic missiles at security forces during a training exercise. [5] Fifty-three people were killed and 200 were injured according to the local authority. [5]

Escalation in Taiz Province

On Sunday evening warplanes belonging to the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions in the Dhi al-Birah and Najd Qasim areas of Al-Misrakh district south of Taiz province. [2] Two additional strikes targeted Al-Wazi'iyah district in western Taiz. [2] The airstrikes coincided with an escalation in fighting around Jabal Sabir where government forces and local resistance fighters have been attempting to repel Houthi attacks and infiltration attempts. [2] Sources told The New Arab that local resistance fighters from the village of Al-Rahn were engaged in fierce clashes with Houthi groups attempting to advance from the villages of Khurayshah and Al-Ma'yanah towards Al-Najjadah and neighbouring communities. [2] The sources said the Houthis were seeking to reach the summit of Jabal al-Arus and cut off a road connecting several villages and districts across the Sabir mountain area. [2] The clashes coincided with heavy Houthi attacks on the Al-Sina'a position on the opposite side of the front following the group's reported loss of several positions in Al-Sanamat Al-Sarari and Ambiyan. [2] Elsewhere in Taiz an 11-year-old Yemeni girl was wounded by shrapnel to the head on Sunday evening after Houthi shelling struck the village of Al-Shaqab in Sabir al-Mawadim district south of the province. [2]

Broader Context of Renewed Yemen Fighting

The attack comes amid an escalation in Yemen's conflict with fighting continuing between government forces and the Houthis on several fronts. [2] Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Houthis who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north has escalated in recent weeks becoming another front in the wider regional conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. [3] Earlier this month government forces launched a campaign to recapture areas controlled by the Houthis recovering ground near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait a key shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea. [3] The Houthis have put their growing military capabilities on display on multiple fronts in recent weeks repeatedly striking Saudi Arabia’s main international airport hundreds of miles away and seizing territory inside Yemen near a key shipping chokepoint. [4] Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq provide expertise training and sophisticated weapons to the Houthis according to U.N. and other experts. [4] Iran denies arming the Houthis which would violate a U.N. embargo. [4] War broke out in Yemen in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa driving the government south. [3] A Saudi-led military intervention the following year led to a bloody stalemate before a 2022 truce that held until this year. [3] The escalation shattered a 2022 ceasefire deal that largely stopped fighting in Yemen’s civil war. [4] The Houthis and the internationally recognized government which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition have been trading attacks since the group advanced in September towards territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. [5] Government forces this month began a campaign aimed at recapturing areas controlled by the Houthis recovering ground near the strait while the group besieges Taiz the last major urban stronghold of anti-Houthi forces in the southern highland area of Yemen. [5] The conflict in Yemen has become another front line in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran as the Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia the world's largest crude exporter targeting Riyadh's international airport and the state oil company Saudi Aramco. [5]

Humanitarian and Security Implications

The latest violence comes as Yemen's long-running war continues to intensify with renewed clashes and missile attacks threatening to deepen the country's humanitarian and security crisis. [2] Yemen is already one of the world's worst humanitarian crises with aid agencies warning of rapidly deteriorating conditions there. [5] The provincial government in Shabwa described the attack as a bloody treacherous attack targeted new recruits in the training and preparation phase and considered an extremely critical military escalation and a blatant aggression on the security and stability of Shabwa province. [4] The attack wounded an additional 200 recruits at the military camp in the southern province of Shabwa and was one of the deadliest strikes since a resurgence in fighting in Yemen this summer. [4] On Sunday an airstrike blamed on Saudi-led forces killed at least nine people in Yemen’s rebel-held northern province of Saada the Houthi-run Health Ministry said. [4] Five children and two women were killed in the attack one of several that killed or wounded more than 30 people over the weekend according to the rebels. [4]

What to watch next: The Houthis have been targeting Saudi airports and oil and military facilities in recent weeks while the Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive to dislodge the rebels from the strategic area near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.