Houthi attacks kill 58 Yemeni government troops, source says

At least 58 Saudi-backed Yemeni government troops were killed and dozens were injured in Houthi missile and drone attacks on Thursday, a military source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Medical sources had earlier put the death toll at 38. A military official, also speaking anonymously, described the attacks on troop camps as the worst in Yemen since 2022.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels attacked government positions with ballistic missiles and drones in response to what he described as a military buildup backed by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

A military official said a camp in the al-Ruwaik area of Marib province in central Yemen was attacked, along with camps in the Al-Abr and Al-Wadiah areas of Hadramawt near the Saudi border. Another military source said one missile hit troops during morning formation at the Marib camp, killing and wounding at least 45 personnel.

Saree named Al-Ruwaik, al-Thaniyah and al-Abr among the areas hit and said the Houthis were prepared to confront any escalation.

The defence ministry of Yemen's internationally recognised government said its armed forces would respond to the attacks "at the appropriate place and time".

The escalation also crossed the border into Saudi Arabia, where Saudi officials said Houthi attacks wounded 11 civilians in the southern Najran region. Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said the wounded included seven Saudis, a Yemeni, two Egyptians and a Pakistani, according to a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Al-Malki accused the Houthis of carrying out indiscriminate shelling against civilian objects and said coalition forces would continue taking measures to protect civilians.

Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition backing Yemen's government against the Houthis since 2015. The Houthis have fought the government since 2014 and control the capital Sanaa and much of the populous north, while the government holds much of the south.

The fighting had largely been frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022, although that truce had expired. AFP reported that the Houthis upended the truce last month amid the wider US-Iran war, followed by tit-for-tat attacks, a declared maritime blockade of Saudi ports and Houthi strikes on Saudi tankers.