Yemen’s Houthi rebels have accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an air strike on a prison in the northern city of al-Hazm, killing seven people, including a child. The strike on the Central Corrective Facility in al-Jawf province, on the Yemeni side of the border with Saudi Arabia, also wounded at least seven people, including a woman, Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said on Monday. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV channel aired footage it said showed the aftermath of the alleged attack, including a collapsed building and people searching through the rubble. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the allegations.
Al Masirah TV also released footage it claims shows Houthi forces using ballistic missiles to attack Saudi supply trucks containing military equipment at a border crossing in Yemen’s Hadramout province. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of “committing massacres” in al-Jawf, flying reconnaissance drones and supplying mercenaries with weaponry. “The ongoing Saudi aggression against Yemen will not go unpunished, and the Saudi enemy must bear the consequences of its crimes against the Yemeni people,” he said. Saree also claimed that the Houthis had shot down four Saudi reconnaissance drones over the previous 24 hours, including a CH-4 drone that he said was carrying out “hostile missions” in al-Jawf. “This aircraft is the second of this type that was shot down during the past 12 hours, and the fourth during the past 24 hours,” he added. Dually, Riyadh has not commented on Saree’s allegations.
The Houthi claims come as fighting between the group and Yemen’s internationally recognised government has flared up in recent weeks. The Yemeni government said it made significant territorial gains against the Houthis, including in the al-Jawf, Bayda, Dahle, and Marib provinces on Sunday. Over the past days, government-aligned forces conducted counterattacks in Taiz and Hodeidah after the Houthis launched a major offensive in a struggle to control the critical Bab al-Mandeb strait, with hundreds of people reportedly killed over the past 24 hours. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg called Monday on the country’s warring parties to halt hostilities and exercise maximum restraint, warning that the latest escalation could spiral into a full-scale war.
Air strikes on prisons have occurred several times during Yemen’s decade-long war. In 2022, the Saudi-led coalition struck a detention facility in Saada province, killing at least 87 prisoners and wounding about 266 others. In 2019, the coalition struck a Houthi-run detention facility in Dhamar province, killing more than 100 people and wounding dozens.
