On 28 April 2025, a US airstrike reportedly struck a migrant detention centre in Saada, northern Yemen, killing over 68 civilians and injuring dozens more. According to Human Rights Watch, the victims were predominantly of African nationality – migrants and asylum seekers held in Houthi-controlled territory. This attack, verified by video evidence from Al-Masirah and confirmed by Reuters, is the deadliest known single strike of the new US campaign in Yemen and raises urgent questions about the legality, accountability, and oversight of US military actions abroad.
This incident forms part of a broader escalation: more than 800 US airstrikes have reportedly taken place in Yemen since 15 March 2025, when the Trump administration reinitiated large-scale military operations in the country. The new campaign, framed by the US government as a response to threats from Houthi-aligned forces in the Red Sea, has drawn criticism from human rights monitors who say it has caused “extensive civilian harm”, with hundreds of deaths and injuries already documented.
“US airstrikes are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This is happening under a Trump administration that has loosened policy constraints on the use of force and is seeking to marginalise Pentagon offices charged with mitigating civilian harm.”
The Saada detention centre strike is not without precedent. In January 2022, the Saudi-led coalition bombed the same facility, killing at least 91 people and injuring 236 others. That attack was also widely condemned, and it led to international calls for greater accountability. It is still unclear to what extent the United States was complicit in the 2022 strike, given its intelligence-sharing and logistical support to the Saudi-led campaign.
The persistence of such attacks reflects the systemic failure of belligerent parties to safeguard vulnerable populations, particularly African migrants who often find themselves detained in dire conditions while attempting to transit through Yemen to Gulf states.
From a legal standpoint, the implications are significant. International humanitarian law obliges all parties to an armed conflict to distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants, and to take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimise civilian harm. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas, particularly in known detention facilities, carries a high risk of indiscriminate impact. Failing to take all reasonable precautions before an attack may amount to a violation of international law. Deliberate or reckless attacks on civilian infrastructure can constitute war crimes.
This recent airstrike highlights broader patterns AOAV has documented globally: the use of explosive weapons in populated areas disproportionately affects civilians, often leaving behind mass casualties and destroyed infrastructure. It also follows a worrying trend of diminished oversight and transparency in the United States’ approach to military engagements overseas, particularly under administrations that have deprioritised civilian protection and accountability.
AOAV urges the international community to call for an independent investigation into this attack, including the publication of targeting assessments, chain-of-command authorisations, and civilian harm mitigation protocols. The victims of Saada—many of whom remain unnamed—deserve more than condolence; they deserve justice.
Furthermore, this event must reinvigorate debates at the United Nations regarding the regulation of armed drone use, the accountability of states under international humanitarian law, and the need for binding international mechanisms to track and report civilian casualties caused by explosive weapons.
As the war in Yemen labours on into its second decade, and with foreign powers returning to a pattern of unchecked military intervention, the cost borne by civilians remains intolerably high. If impunity prevails, so too will the deaths.