Yemen prison strike claim deepens Saudi-Houthi tensions in Jawf

Cairo,UPDATED: Sep 7, 2026 22:10 IST

Houthi rebels in Yemen accused Saudi Arabia of striking a prison in the country’s north on Monday, in an incident that came as tensions rose between the Iran-backed group and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

According to the prison’s warden, the strike hit the Central Corrective Facility in Hazm, a strategic city in Jawf province, killing a child and leaving 35 prisoners and a woman visiting her husband trapped under the rubble. Two people were also wounded. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia’s media ministry.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel aired 46 seconds of footage that it said showed the aftermath of the strike, including a collapsed building, rubble and broken concrete slabs scattered across the ground. Several people, including what appeared to be rescue teams, were seen moving carefully across the debris and searching through the wreckage.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes and “committing massacres” in Jawf, while also deploying a reconnaissance drone and supplying mercenaries with various weapons. “The ongoing Saudi aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered or unpunished,” he said.

Later on Monday, Saree said Houthi forces had shot down four Saudi reconnaissance drones over the past 24 hours, including one seen on Monday morning in Bayda province. The Houthi claim came as forces of the internationally recognised government advanced across several fronts in Yemen, including in Jawf, Bayda, Dahle and Marib provinces.

Yemen descended into civil war in 2014 when the Houthis moved from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government to flee south and later into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year in an attempt to restore the government.

Strikes on prisons have not been uncommon during the war. In 2022, a strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a detention facility in the northern province of Saada, killing at least 87 prisoners and wounding about 266 others. Another strike in September 2019 hit a Houthi-run detention facility in the south-western Dhamar province, killing more than 100 people and wounding dozens.

The war in Yemen has killed at least 150,000 people, according to UN estimates, and has at times pushed the country to the brink of famine. A ceasefire that had largely held since 2022 has now broken down, with Monday’s reported prison strike adding to the latest escalation in the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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