The local authority in Shabwa Governorate in central Yemen announced in a statement that "more than 53 recruits were killed and more than 200 others were injured among the new recruits in the Internal Security in Shabwa Governorate, while they were receiving security training and qualification."
The governorate authorities said that the Houthi rebels fired three ballistic missiles at the Al-Alam military camp in the southern governorate.
Governorate Undersecretary Fahd Al-Khulaifi told Agence France-Presse that there were dozens of wounded in critical condition. Al-Khulaifi added, "The seriously injured were transferred to hospitals in Hadramaut and Aden, after Shabwa's hospitals were filled with the wounded, who flocked to them in large numbers following the attack."
A government military source in Shabwa expressed the fears of the Yemeni forces that "these missile attacks launched by the Houthis on Shabwa will pave the way for a ground attack, similar to what happened in Mokha."
The statement said: “This bloody, treacherous attack targeted new recruits in the training and preparation stage, and is considered an extremely dangerous military escalation and a blatant aggression against the security and stability of Shabwa Governorate.”
One of the military officials said that the targets were part of a newly formed force called “Rapid Intervention,” whose mission is to defend the region. The official added that the missile strike occurred while the recruits were lining up in formation for a training session.
The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, announced that his group's forces were responsible for the operation. He said that it targeted "the Saudi enemy's concentrations in Camp Al-Alam, which is run by Saudi officers in the eastern regions" of Yemen.
Washington's embassies in the Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel published a security warning stating, "Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise the utmost caution in light of the complex security situation." Please prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.” In the warning, she referred to the situation in Saudi Arabia, which was subjected to almost daily attacks carried out by the Houthis with missiles and drones, the most violent of which was the attack on Riyadh Airport on October 10, which resulted in 13 dead and more than 300 wounded.
The warning indicated that "Iran and groups loyal to it may target other American interests abroad, or sites linked to the United States and Americans around the world, including American companies and other institutions." Hostilities were renewed as a result of the war in the Middle East, which broke out with an American-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, with the collapse of a truce that had been in effect in Yemen since 2022. The Houthis, supported by Tehran, achieved progress on the ground at the expense of government forces supported by a military coalition led by Riyadh. They took control of the western coast of Yemen and the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait region, whose importance to Saudi Arabia in exporting oil increased, amid Iran’s practical closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, who held their meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama, yesterday evening (Sunday, October 18, 2026), condemned in a statement “the continued Iranian attacks with missiles and drones on the GCC countries and Jordan, directly or through its agents in the region, which targeted civilian facilities, service sites, residential areas, and diplomatic missions, and resulted in significant material damage, and constituted a threat to the security of citizens.” And their residents and their safety,” according to the Saudi News Agency “SPA”. The ministers called for "an immediate and unconditional cessation of all attacks, provocations and threats, and full compliance with Security Council Resolution No. 2817."
The ministers called on "the Security Council and the international community to assume their responsibilities and take what is necessary to ensure the full implementation of the resolution, hold those responsible for these attacks accountable, and oblige Iran to make full reparation for all damages resulting from them." In their statement, the ministers stressed, “The Straits of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab, and the Red Sea are vital waterways whose importance is not limited to the countries of the region, but rather represent major arteries for the global economy,” stressing that “ensuring their security, safety of navigation, and freedom is a common international interest and responsibility.”
