Houthi Missile Attack Kills at Least 53 at Yemen Training Camp

At least 53 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when Houthi forces struck a training camp for Yemen’s internationally recognized government in southern Shabwa province, officials and news reports said.

The al-Alam camp in Jardan district was hit by three ballistic missiles as recruits stood in formation, according to The Guardian. Most of the casualties were young recruits undergoing police or army training. The wounded were taken to a hospital in Ataq, the provincial capital, where authorities appealed for blood donations.

Rashad al-Alimi, president of the internationally recognized government, said the dead were new recruits and promised an immediate response. He also asked UN Secretary-General António Guterres to classify the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. Shabwa’s provincial authority called the strike a military escalation and an attack on the province’s security, while Governor Awad bin al-Wazir requested additional air defenses.

A Houthi military spokesperson said the group had targeted what it described as Saudi forces and Saudi officers at the camp. That claim was not independently confirmed in the reports.

The attack occurred amid renewed fighting that began in September, including a Houthi push south along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The Guardian described the strike as the largest single loss of life since the civil war reignited that month.