{"id":837995,"date":"2026-10-19T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=837995"},"modified":"2026-10-19T15:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T19:28:37","slug":"houthi-missiles-kill-at-least-53-recruits-at-a-training-camp-in-yemens-shabwa-as-fighting-goes-on-near-bab-el-mandeb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837995","title":{"rendered":"Houthi missiles kill at least 53 recruits at a training camp in Yemen’s Shabwa as fighting goes on near Bab el-Mandeb"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Yemeni<\/figure>\n

A flag ceremony with recruits, in a photo South24 posted with its first report on the attack on al-Alam camp in Shabwa on October 19. When and where the photo was taken could not be independently confirmed. (Photo: South24 via X) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

Houthi ballistic missiles struck a Yemeni government training camp in Shabwa on Monday, killing at least 53 recruits and wounding more than 200, according to the Shabwa local authority.<\/p>\n

The authority put the toll at more than 53. The attack hit al-Alam camp in the Jardan district of southern Yemen during a training course, according to the Shabwa local authority and South24, an Aden based news center. South24 said three ballistic missiles struck the camp while about 700 personnel were taking part in a course for the "Rapid Intervention Battalion," a newly formed southern force. One missile landed where soldiers had gathered, its correspondent reported.<\/p>\n

The Guardian called it the largest single loss of life since Yemen's civil war reignited in September. The Associated Press also put the toll at at least 53, according to its headline. The Houthis acknowledged targeting the camp in a statement quoted by the Guardian.<\/p>\n

The first word came on X. South24's English account posted on Monday morning that a "Houthi ballistic missile targets Al-Alam camp in Shabwa during a training session," and within half an hour it reported that ambulances were "still transporting the victims." Its first toll, posted a few minutes later, was 40 killed. By early afternoon, local officials were giving a toll of more than 53 dead and over 200 wounded, the figure later carried by the AP and the Guardian. Later on Monday, Shabwa Governor Awad Mohammed bin al-Wazir told Al Arabiya that the death toll had risen to 58, with more than 200 wounded, and that the Houthis used three missiles in the attack (Al Arabiya<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A survivor told South24 that a reconnaissance drone believed to be operated by the Houthis had flown over the camp on each of the three nights before the attack. The account South Voice, quoting the same center, wrote that more than a thousand people had gathered at hospitals in Ataq, the provincial capital, "some to donate blood for the injured." The Shabwa branch of the Southern Transitional Council called the strike a "dangerous escalation" and demanded "the completion of investigations and the disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the missile attack," according to posts by South24.<\/p>\n

Graphic videos said to show the aftermath spread quickly. The Arabic defense site Defence Arabia posted the local authority's toll of more than 53 killed and 200 wounded among the recruits. Other accounts claimed far higher numbers. One wrote that more than 100 were killed, and another said the dead included "Saudi officers." Neither claim could be verified.<\/p>\n

The Houthi military spokesman said in a statement quoted by the Guardian that "our armed forces targeted the Saudi enemy's mobilisations in the Al-Alam camp, which is run by Saudi officers," and warned young men against "responding to the Saudi enemy's calls."<\/p>\n

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, said the dead were new recruits and promised a hard response. He said the attack "affirmed that targeting the recruits reflects the Houthi militias' approach of resorting to cowardly terrorist attacks whenever they face pressures," according to the Guardian, which also reported that al-Alimi had asked UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres to have the UN classify the Houthis as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Mission to Yemen extended condolences to the families of those killed and said, in a statement posted on X, "We condemn this cowardly attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia on Yemenis who had volunteered to keep their communities and country safe." (statement<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Shabwa authorities said condemnation alone was not enough. They asked the Presidential Leadership Council, the Gov't and Saudi Arabia to give the province air defense systems, surveillance equipment and early warning systems, South24 reported.<\/p>\n

The attack lands while the war on the Red Sea coast is still undecided. Yemeni government forces said on October 5 they had retaken the coast around Bab el-Mandeb and the port city of Mokha after the Houthis pushed south in September. Two weeks on, Arabic accounts on X show the area is far from quiet. The Yemeni outlet Al Wefaq News reported "renewed battles near the Bab el-Mandeb strait" on Monday, alongside the Shabwa toll. The South News Agency, citing field sources, reported on Sunday that the Southern Giants Brigades and the Nation's Shield forces had reached the Mokha junction by the Yakhtul axis. Users on both sides traded claims about who holds what between the strait and Mokha, which the mapping account Ahdath Map put about 80 kilometers north of the strait.<\/p>\n

The Guardian said southern forces "were said to be making progress" in pushing the Houthis from the area around the strait, and that the Houthis are also trying to besiege the city of Taiz, where residents have called for more air protection. Separately, South24 reported that two soldiers of the Southern Giants Brigades were killed and four wounded when a roadside bomb hit a convoy in the Al-Uqla area of Shabwa late on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The strait matters for Ethiopia and the Horn as well. Ships heading to and from the Suez Canal pass through Bab el-Mandeb, and Djibouti's port, which handles most of Ethiopia's trade, sits at its southern end.<\/p>\n

The fighting has pulled in other countries. Egypt's top security body pledged at the weekend to give Saudi Arabia "all necessary" support. On Monday, Pakistan's military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and security, and the security of the two holy mosques, are "paramount and non-negotiable," according to a post by the Pakistani outlet GGP Media. The Cradle, a West Asia news site, reported that Pakistan was providing "whatever support is needed" to defend the kingdom.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n