A Houthi missile strike on a Yemen government training camp kills 58 people and wounds more than 200

The missiles came in while the recruits were out training.

Local authority sources told Reuters that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at security forces during a training exercise at the Al Alam camp in Shabwa province on Monday. Governor Awad al Wazir put the toll at 58 killed and more than 200 injured, with 14 people still missing, as of October 20. Video verified by Reuters from the province showed injured men and bloodied bodies scattered across the ground. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on X that the group had targeted the camp, which he said was run by Saudi forces. Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shabwa is an energy rich province on Yemen's southern coast, overlooking the Gulf of Aden, and home to the Balhaf liquefied natural gas facility, the country's largest industrial investment. The government and the Houthis have been trading attacks since the group advanced in September toward territory near the Bab el Mandeb Strait, the shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea. Government forces began a campaign this month to retake ground near the strait, while the Houthis besiege Taiz, the last major urban stronghold of the anti Houthi forces in the southern highlands.

Monday was also the day the war reached further into Saudi Arabia. The Houthis claimed attacks on an Aramco site in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield, and the Riyadh and Abha airports. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the claims, and Reuters could not independently verify them. What is documented is the strain: more than 45 percent of departures from the kingdom's airports have been cancelled since October 8, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium, and on Monday Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference, the gathering known as Davos in the Desert, until next year.

Yemen's war has become a front line in the wider conflict around Iran. The Houthis, aligned with Tehran, have escalated their attacks on the world's largest crude exporter while the government they fight is backed by a Saudi led coalition. On Monday that escalation produced the deadliest single strike of the current fighting, on a parade of recruits in Shabwa who never left their training ground.