Houthi missile and drone strikes kill at least 30 Yemeni soldiers

Missile and drone strikes carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Thursday hit military camps in the Hadramout and Marib governorates, killing at least 30 government soldiers and wounding 15, Yemeni officials said. The attacks targeted facilities run by the country's Emergency Forces and were reported as the most lethal in recent years of the civil war.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the operations, which involved eight missiles launched from al-Jawf governorate, resulted in "hundreds" of casualties, though official casualty figures remain lower. The Yemeni military confirmed the strikes and said they were a response to prior government attacks on Houthi positions.

The violence follows a recent escalation in fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces, which have both increased troop deployments across the country. The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have targeted ships linked to the kingdom in the Red Sea.

The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015, has resumed air strikes against Houthi targets in western Yemen, marking its first such operations since 2022.