SANAA, Yemen: Houthi media in Yemen said Monday that US strikes hit a migrant detention centre in the movement’s stronghold of Saada, killing at least 68 people.
The US military has hammered the Houthi group with near-daily strikes since March 15 in an operation dubbed “Rough Rider”, seeking to end their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis launched strikes targeting Israel and Western vessels in the Red Sea, in what they describe as solidarity with the Palestinians, since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
On Sunday, the US said it had hit more than 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of Houthi fighters including members of the group’s leadership.
Just hours later, Houthi media said the latest barrage by US forces had hit a migrant detention centre.
“The civil defence has announced that 68 African migrants were killed and 47 others wounded in the US attack targeting a centre for illegal migrants in the city of Saada,” the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV said.
According to a statement cited by Al-Masirah from the Houthi administration’s interior ministry, the centre housed “115 migrants, all from Africa”.
The broadcaster showed footage of bodies stuck under the rubble and of rescuers working to help the casualties.
Each year, tens of thousands of migrants brave the Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa, seeking to escape conflict, natural disasters and poor economic prospects by sailing across the Red Sea towards the Gulf.
Many hope for employment as labourers or domestic workers in Gulf Arab countries, though they face a perilous journey through Yemen.
The UN migration agency, IOM, said it was closely monitoring the situation following the latest strike but said the facility in question was not being managed by their personnel.
“It is imperative that all efforts are made to avoid harm to civilians and to protect those most vulnerable in these challenging circumstances,” the agency said in a statement.
US military says struck over 800 targets
The Houthis began targeting shipping in late 2023, preventing vessels from passing through the Suez Canal — a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of global trade — forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.
In a statement that provided its most detailed accounting of the operation so far, the US military command responsible for the Middle East said it had “struck over 800 targets”, killing “hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders”.
“The strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defence systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations,” CENTCOM said.
Despite the strikes, the Houthis, who control large swaths of Yemen, have continued to claim attacks against both US vessels and Israel.
In a statement on Monday, the Houthis said they had responded to the latest “attacks and massacres against civilians” by targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier with “several cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones”.
The group also claimed its latest “military operation” against Israel — the third in as many days — saying they had sent a drone towards “the occupied region of Ashkelon”, on Israel’s southern coast.
The United States first began conducting strikes against the Houthis under Joe Biden’s administration, but they have has intensified under President Donald Trump.
CENTCOM said that “our operations have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks”.
“We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” it added. – Agencies
