Government forces bomb Ansar Allah positions, and say they “seized the initiative.”
Published 19 October 2026, 13:35 GMT
Last updated 2 minutes ago
Reading time: 3 minutes
The spokesman for the Yemeni government armed forces, Majid Al-Nuzaili, said on Monday: “Our armed forces seized the initiative and expanded their offensive actions within the ‘Yemen Dawn’ operation, carrying out during the past 24 hours (1,164) accurate and direct targeting operations.”
He added, "Using military aircraft, drones, field artillery, launchers, and snipers, they destroyed the Houthi terrorist militia's concentrations, reinforcements, and mechanisms, blew up their fortifications, and disrupted their sources of fire and supply routes."
On Monday, 53 people were killed and 200 others were injured in an attack launched by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) on a camp for training government security forces in the Shabwa Governorate in south-central Yemen, according to local authorities, at a time when the intensity of fighting is escalating in the country.
Video clips verified by Reuters in Shabwa Governorate showed injured people and blood-stained bodies scattered on the ground.
Local sources in the local authority, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, reported that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the security forces during training exercises that were taking place in the camp.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack that killed dozens of soldiers from the Yemeni government forces during training in Shabwa Governorate.
Shabwa Governorate is located in a coastal area in south-central Yemen, and has rich energy resources.
The sources confirmed that the missiles hit Camp Al-Alam, which is used by forces loyal to the internationally recognized Yemeni government, amid renewed fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis after the collapse of a truce that had largely held since 2022.
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In Taiz, Al-Nuzaili confirmed that the storming units “developed their attack, seized new positions, and pushed the militia members to retreat under intense air and artillery support, while the southern and Shabwa fronts continued offensive pressure on the enemy’s positions, restricting his movement and preventing him from reorganizing his formations or advancing his reserves.”
He pointed out, "Along the western front in the coast and Bab al-Mandab, the forces stationed there destroyed the onslaught of enemy formations, imposed fire control on their movement axes, and struck their mobilization areas and sources of fire. The operations resulted in the neutralization of (558) militia members, including field commanders."
He pointed out that government forces "destroyed and damaged (135) military vehicles and means, while our units continued to develop the attack and expand their field gains in accordance with the operational plan. The attacks were carried out against legitimate military targets, after verifying them and taking due precautions to protect civilians and civilian objects."
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The governorate's agent, Fahd Al-Khulaifi, said, "The seriously injured were transferred to hospitals in Hadramaut and Aden, after Shabwa's hospitals were filled with the wounded, who arrived there in large numbers following the attack."
Al-Nuzaili wrote on the X platform earlier Monday that “the Houthi militia targeted Shabwa with three ballistic missiles.”
He said that the attack targeted a training center for members of the security and police services.
The Houthis, backed by Iran, and the internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been exchanging attacks since the Houthis advanced in September towards areas near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is a strategic sea passage at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
This month, Yemeni government forces began a military campaign aimed at regaining areas controlled by the Houthis, and were able to regain sites near the strait, while the Houthis imposed a siege on the city of Taiz, which is the last major urban headquarters for the forces opposing them in the southern highlands region of Yemen.
The attack comes in light of the expanding scope of the conflict in Yemen, which has become another front in the broader war between the United States and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other, with the Houthis escalating their attacks on Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of crude oil in the world.
The Houthis targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and the Saudi state oil company, Aramco*, in attacks that came as part of a broader escalation of regional tensions.
In a related development, a vote in the Egyptian Parliament on authorizing the army to help defend Saudi Arabia, if the Kingdom requests it, was postponed to October 26, after it was scheduled to take place this week.
