ALBAWABA- The death toll from a U.S. airstrike on a migrant detention facility in Yemen’s Saada city has risen to 68, with 47 others injured, according to Houthi-run Civil Defense authorities.
The victims were primarily African migrants, many reportedly seeking to reach Saudi Arabia for work.
Houthi spokesperson and head of the negotiating team in Muscat, Mohammed Abdul Salam, condemned the strike as a "brutal crime" in a statement posted on X.
He accused the U.S. administration of deliberately targeting innocent migrants, claiming the facility housed over 100 individuals at the time of the bombing.
"This brutality will not mask the U.S. administration's military failures in Yemen," Abdul Salam wrote. "Continuing the aggression will achieve nothing but further crimes.
America's targeting of residential areas, while falsely portraying them as military sites, reveals deliberate acts of terrorism."
Emergency teams rushed to the scene, working to extinguish fires and rescue victims trapped under rubble.
The strike on the Sa'dah facility marks the latest deadly incident in a surge of U.S. attacks on Houthi-controlled areas since April 18, when a U.S. assault on Ras Isa port in Hodeida killed 76 people and wounded hundreds, mostly civilian workers, in what has been described as one of the gravest atrocities of Trump’s second term in Yemen.
Just hours earlier, separate U.S. strikes on Arhab and Sana'a reportedly killed multiple civilians, including women and children.
The attack has triggered outrage among activists, who warn of escalating civilian casualties under “Operation Rough Rider,” the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in Yemen.
The incident also comes as Washington simultaneously engages in delicate nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Houthis’ principal regional ally.
