DUBAI — Iran-backed Houthi rebels executed a devastating series of ballistic missile and drone strikes across Yemen on Thursday, killing at least 58 Saudi-backed government soldiers and wounding dozens more in the deadliest single-day military escalation in the country in four years.
The strikes targeted multiple strategic military positions, including troop camps in the al-Ruwaik region of Marib province, as well as the Al-Abr and Al-Wadiah areas in Hadramawt province near the Saudi Arabian border. Military sources reported that one missile struck a troop formation during morning drills at a camp in Marib, causing massive casualties and leaving at least 45 personnel killed or critically injured.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the offensive, stating the barrage was carried out in retaliation for an alleged military buildup supported by neighboring Saudi Arabia. Saree declared that rebel forces were prepared to confront any further military escalation by government forces or coalition allies.
Thursday's heavy bombardment represents the most severe breach of calm since a United Nations-negotiated truce in 2022 largely halted large-scale offensive operations between the Houthis and the internationally recognized Yemeni government. Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the offensive as the worst attack on troop camps since the 2022 ceasefire went into effect.
The violence quickly spilled across Yemen’s northern border into Saudi Arabia. Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki reported that Houthi strikes hit civilian infrastructure in the southern Najran region, injuring 11 civilians—including seven Saudi citizens, two Egyptians, a Yemeni, and a Pakistani national. Al-Malki denounced the rebel strikes as "indiscriminate shelling against civilian objects" and asserted that coalition forces would take all required operational measures to safeguard civilians.
Yemen’s Ministry of Defence issued a formal statement condemning the aggression and vowed that its armed forces would launch a response "at the appropriate place and time."
The sharp escalation comes against a backdrop of wider Middle East tensions, with the Houthis stepping up attacks against both Yemeni government positions and regional maritime routes. The conflict in Yemen, which erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of the north, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and triggered one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises.
