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Houthi missiles kill 53 recruits at Yemen army camp in Shabwa
Three ballistic missiles struck government recruits as they lined up for training in southern Yemen on Monday, one of the deadliest attacks since the war flared again. Saudi Arabia has called off a major investment conference.
Key points
- Local authorities in Shabwa said 53 people were killed and about 200 wounded in the strike on a training camp.
- Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council chief Rashad al-Alimi promised a "firm response" to the Houthis.
- Saudi Arabia has cancelled a global investment conference that was due next week.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired ballistic missiles into a government training camp in the southern province of Shabwa on Monday, killing at least 53 recruits and wounding about 200, in one of the deadliest single attacks since the country’s war reignited this summer.
Military officials said the missiles struck as the new recruits were lining up for a training session. A spokesperson for government forces said three ballistic missiles were fired at the camp. Early figures from officials and medical sources put the dead at 18, but by Monday evening the Shabwa local authority said 53 had been killed, and warned that the toll could rise.
Government vows a response
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said those killed were new recruits and promised a “firm response”. “Targeting recruits reflects the Houthi militia’s approach of resorting to terrorist attacks when under pressure,” he said.
The Shabwa provincial government called the strike a “blatant aggression on the security and stability of Shabwa province” and urged faster deployment of air defence and early-warning systems.
The Houthis claimed the attack, saying they had hit a “Saudi-backed” base. Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said any site with a Saudi-backed military presence was a legitimate target. The group also said the camp was run by Saudi officers, some of whom were killed, but offered no evidence. Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment.
Pressure on Riyadh
The rebels also claimed six attacks on oil installations, airports and military sites across Saudi Arabia, including eastern facilities and Riyadh’s international airport, without saying when they took place. Saudi authorities sent alerts to Riyadh residents warning of “a hostile aerial threat” on Monday, and civil defence officials reported no immediate casualties or damage.
Saudi Arabia has cancelled a global investment conference planned for next week that had been expected to draw Wall Street executives, a sign of how deeply the conflict is now reaching the kingdom’s economic plans.
The fighting has widened fast. In September the Houthis seized strategic ground on the Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, and government forces backed by Saudi Arabia have since launched a counteroffensive aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory, including Sanaa. On Sunday the Houthi-run health ministry blamed Saudi-led forces for an air strike in Saada that killed at least nine people, five of them children.
Egypt’s presidency said on Sunday that Cairo was ready to give Saudi Arabia “all necessary and possible forms of support”, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has asked parliament to authorise the military to help defend the kingdom if Riyadh asks.
What to watch
Government forces said they had also struck Houthi gatherings, vehicles and weapons south of Taiz on Monday. Any retaliation for the Shabwa attack, and whether Egypt’s parliament completes its vote on military support for Saudi Arabia, will set the course of the coming days.