Following what Houthi-controlled television reported on Monday as a US airstrike, corpses covered in dust and debris were scattered in the wreckage of a detention centre for African migrants in Yemen, with a reported death toll of 68.
This attack stands as one of the deadliest in the intensified US airstrikes against the Iran-aligned Houthi group, which controls northern Yemen and has been striking Red Sea shipping in solidarity with Palestinians.
A US defence official, speaking anonymously, acknowledged awareness of the civilian casualty claims, stating that they take these claims seriously and are currently conducting a battle-damage assessment and inquiry. The US military has refrained from providing detailed information about its airstrike targets, citing operational security.
Houthi-run Al Masirah television broadcast images depicting the aftermath of the strike in Saada, a route used by African migrants journeying through conflict-ridden Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia. The footage showed dust-covered bodies amidst blood-stained rubble. Rescue workers were seen carrying a slightly moving man on a stretcher, and a survivor could be heard calling out “My mother” in Amharic, the primary language of Ethiopia.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam asserted on X that the American administration had committed a “brutal crime” by bombing the Saada detention centre, which he claimed held over 100 undocumented African migrants.
Reuters independently verified the location and timing of the aftermath video using visible landmarks, including a warehouse-like building with a shredded corrugated roof. Satellite images of the same location from the previous day showed the roof intact.
The location corresponded to a migrant centre previously struck in a Saudi-led airstrike in 2022.
The deadliest US strike in Yemen prior to this occurred earlier this month, targeting a fuel terminal on the Red Sea and resulting in at least 74 deaths.
The US military has reported striking over 800 targets since the commencement of Operation Rough Rider in Yemen on March 15, claiming to have killed “hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders”. On Monday, the US Navy reported that an F-18 aircraft and its tow tractor fell off the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier, which has been assisting strikes in Yemen from the Red Sea.
The Houthis stated earlier on Monday that they targeted the aircraft carrier and its associated warships in response to what they described as US “massacres against civilians”.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric commented on Monday, “Strikes pose a growing risk to the civilian population in Yemen,” adding, “We continue to call on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”
Aid agency officials note that hundreds of thousands of people annually travel from the Horn of Africa, crossing the Red Sea and journeying on foot through Yemen towards the Saudi border in search of escape from poverty.
The Yemeni-Saudi border, a former active frontline, remains dangerous despite the paused major fighting.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2023 that Saudi border guards had allegedly used explosive weapons and gunfire to kill hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, including women and children, attempting to cross the border, a claim a Saudi official denied.
