US strikes on Yemen kill dozens as migrant detention centre hit | News

Attack on capital Sanaa raises death toll to more than 220 people since US strikes on Yemen launched in mid-March.

United States military strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, have killed dozens of people and wounded many more, according to Houthi-affiliated media reports.

The attacks killed at least eight people around the city, while 30 died in a strike on a migrant detention centre, Houthi media reported on Monday.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, refused to offer details of the latest strikes, but acknowledged carrying out more than 800 attacks on targets in Yemen since mid-March. More than 220 people are reported to have been killed in that campaign.

The Al Masirah TV satellite news channel reported early on Monday that eight people were killed in a US strike targeting the ​​Bani al-Harith district north of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

The US also struck Yemen’s Amran and Saada governorates on Sunday night, Houthi officials said, and two people were reported killed in an earlier attack on Sanaa.

“Eight martyrs, including children and women,” the channel reported after the attack that targeted the Thaqban area in Bani al-Harith.

Detained migrants caught in the crossfire

A later report by the station showed graphic footage and said that 30 people had been killed when a migrant detention centre was hit in the strikes in Saada.

The facility had been holding around 100 people from Ethiopia and other African countries detained while crossing Yemen in a bid to secure work in Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi rebels allegedly earn large sums smuggling migrants over the border, but those seeking to cross are taking a significant risk, with the threat of detainment and abuse, added to by long running conflict.

A strike by the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in 2022 hit a detention centre killing 66 detainees, according to a United Nations report.

The Houthis shot dead 16 detainees who fled after the strike and wounded another 50, the UN said.

The latest US bombing raids raise the death toll from US strikes on Yemen to 228 people, according to a tally of Houthi announcements on casualties.

The US military said on Sunday that since March 15, it had struck more than 800 targets in Yemen and killed hundreds of rebel fighters.

“These strikes have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders,” CENTCOM said. It added that the attacks on Yemen would continue and but details would continue to be restricted.

“To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations,” CENTCOM said.

“We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do,” it added.

The US has not commented on civilian casualties from its intense bombing of Yemen, which began on March 15 and has involved almost daily attacks.

US forces say they are targeting the Houthis because of the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, and on Israel. The Houthis say they launched their attacks on Red Sea shipping linked to Israel in retaliation against Israel’s war on Gaza.

On April 18, a US strike on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest-known attack to date by the US on Yemen.

The increase in US attacks also comes as President Donald Trump intensifies efforts to pressure Iran – the main supporter of the Houthis – into agreeing to a new deal on its nuclear capabilities.

The US is conducting strikes from its two aircraft carriers in the region – the USS Harry S Truman in the Red Sea and the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.

Houthi forces, nevertheless, continue to launch missiles at Israel and US vessels in the Red Sea, as well as US military drones.