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Houthis Strike Yemen Government Forces, Killing Over 50

Updated 6:09 PM ET · 4:26 PM ETConfirmed

World Desk

In Short: Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a military camp for Yemen's government forces in the central province of Shabwa, killing at least 53 recruits and injuring over 200, according to the BBC (United Kingdom) and multiple other outlets.

The attack, one of the deadliest since fighting intensified earlier this year, targeted recruits from around the country, said Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, as reported by the BBC (United Kingdom) and The Times of Israel (Israel).

The Houthis' military spokesman claimed they targeted 'Saudi enemy concentrations,' while the government's health ministry reported that at least 1,282 people had been killed in the conflict since August 6, as per the BBC (United Kingdom).

Al Jazeera (Qatar) reported that forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognized government launched an operation to capture a strategic mountainous district from the Houthis, part of a wider push to retake the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Thestar (Canada) noted that Egypt’s top security body agreed to support Saudi Arabia in the escalating conflict with the Houthis, marking the latest front in the Iran war.

The Houthis, in a statement on X, said they launched ballistic missiles and drones at two Saudi Aramco facilities, including the Khurais oil complex southeast of Riyadh, according to Telanganatoday.

The Saudi-led coalition, with air support, managed to regain control of territory on the Red Sea coast that the Houthis captured in a surprise assault in September, as reported by the BBC (United Kingdom).

The attack on Monday was one of the deadliest strikes since a resurgence in fighting in Yemen this summer, according to The Tribune-Democrat.

The Houthis' attack on Monday underscores the intensifying conflict, with the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's government forces responding with renewed vigor.

The Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Saree, stated in a statement on X that fighters had targeted the sites with ballistic missiles and drones, and that 'both operations successfully achieved their objectives,' as reported by the BBC (United Kingdom).

The attack on the military camp in Shabwa highlights the ongoing violence and instability in Yemen, with the Houthis and government forces locked in a deadly conflict.

Despite the differing accounts of casualties and targets, all outlets agree that the Houthis launched a significant attack on Yemen's government forces, resulting in a high number of casualties and injuries.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, condemned what he called the "criminal attack" and promised a "firm response".
• CAIRO (AP) — Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck a military camp for government forces in southern Yemen on Monday, killing at least 20 soldiers, two Yemeni military officials said.
• CAIRO (AP) — Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck Yemeni government forces with ballistic missiles on Monday, killing at least 53 soldiers at a military camp in one of the deadliest attacks since a resurgence in fighting this summer, Yemeni military officials said.
• READ MORE: Egypt's top security body agrees to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against Houthi attacks The fighting between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces is a widening front in the Iran war that began in February.
• In a sign that the Houthi attacks are unsettling Saudi society, the kingdom on Monday canceled a global investment conference scheduled for next week and extended an order for schools in and around Riyadh, the capital, to teach students remotely.
• Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq provide expertise, training and sophisticated weapons to the Houthis, according to U.N. and other experts.
• People ride in a pickup truck during a funeral procession for a Houthi officer in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct.
• 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.
• The Houthi military's spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on X that fighters had targeted the sites with ballistic missiles and drones, and that "both operations successfully achieved their objectives".
• The rebels fired ballistic missiles on the al-Alam military camp in the southern province of Shabwa in an attack that also wounded at least two dozen troops, they said.
• The attack wounded an additional 200 recruits at the military camp in the southern province of Shabwa, the provincial government there said.
• Rashad al-Alimi, head of the ruling Presidential Leadership Council, said those killed were new recruits from around the country and promised a "firm response."

What's still developing

• In a separate development, Houthi-run media reported that a Saudi air strike on a home in the Sahar district of the Houthi-controlled northern province of Saada on Sunday killed at least 10 people and injured 23 others, many of them women and children.
• Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa.
• Yemen's devastating civil war has flared up in recent months.
• Houthi missile attack on Yemeni presidential palace kills five, minister says On Yemen's desert battlefield, a war with global consequences is being waged 'We are terrified but we want to get an education', say Yemeni schoolgirls Monday's attack in Shabwa is one of the deadliest reported since the start of the escalation.
• Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a series of missile attacks targeting cities across Saudi Arabia as the military said projectiles are being intercepted.
• Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said that they targeted King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, with a ballistic missile, which led to a disruption of air traffic.
• New Delhi, Oct 14: A missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement struck a building belonging to Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran overnight, escalating the confrontation between the Iran-backed group and the Saudi-led coalition, the BBC reported.
• RIYADH — The Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militia toward Riyadh at dawn on Saturday, Sept. 19, the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said.
• The pro-Iranian fighters targeted “the headquarters of military operations, led by Saudi officers, at the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, as well as weapons depots belonging to them,” according to the rebel group’s news agency.

Sources

• BBClink
• Bozeman Daily Chroniclelink
• Fxstreetlink
• Greaterkashmirlink
• KTVNlink
• Los Angeles Timeslink
• Naharnetlink
• PBSlink
• RiverBender.comlink
• San Bernardino Sunlink
• Sentinel Coloradolink
• The Daily Corinthianlink
• The Daily Reflectorlink
• The Killeen Daily Heraldlink
• The Tribune-Democratlink
• Timesofisraellink
• Times Of India — video link