Yemeni forces say they downed a Houthi drone near a camp in Hadramout

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MUKALLA, Yemen — Yemeni government forces shot down a Houthi drone as it neared the al-Thaniyah camp in Hadramout province on Tuesday, the Emergency Forces said.

The air defence system of the First Division of the Emergency Forces brought the aircraft down, the division’s media centre said. It released photographs showing the wreckage burning on open ground.

The media centre did not identify the type of drone. It reported no casualties and no damage to the camp.

The Houthi movement, which calls itself Ansar Allah, did not comment on the account. The interception has not been independently confirmed.

Al-Thaniyah lies in the desert north of Hadramout, near al-Abr, on the route that links the province to al-Jawf and Marib. Government formations have kept camps along that road for years.

The Emergency Forces were created by presidential decree in late 2025 under Saudi-led coalition supervision. They secure Yemen’s land borders and the anti-Houthi front lines in al-Jawf and Hadramout.

The same ground was hit this month in one of the heaviest single attacks on government troops since 2022.

On Aug. 6 Houthi forces fired eight ballistic missiles from al-Jawf province at al-Thaniyah and al-Abr in Hadramout and at al-Ruwaik in Marib, Al Jazeera reported.

The missiles landed at about 2 p.m. local time. They struck camps belonging to the Homeland Shield Forces, the Emergency Forces and the First Military Region, according to the same report.

At least 30 government soldiers were killed and 15 wounded, Al Jazeera said. Medical sources and local reports cited by other outlets put the toll between 30 and 60.

The First Emergency Division Command said the casualty count was high because troops had gathered for a morning training exercise.

The Houthi military spokesman announced the operation the same day. He described it as targeting Saudi-backed mobilisations at al-Ruwaik, al-Abr and al-Thaniyah, and camps of the First and Third Emergency brigades.

Xinhua carried the Houthi claim separately. The government did not dispute that the camps had been struck.

Fighting has widened since. Houthi drones killed three government soldiers in south-eastern Yemen on Aug. 13, Xinhua reported.

A separate drone strike killed two men at a military camp in eastern Yemen, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported.

Unmanned aircraft have moved from an occasional weapon to a routine one on both sides. Al Jazeera examined that shift in a report on Aug. 17.

Marib has taken repeated fire through the month. Yemen’s government said Houthi strikes hit residential areas of Marib city on Aug. 15.

Two civilians were killed in a Houthi strike on Marib on Aug. 7, according to the government. The Houthis have not accepted responsibility for civilian deaths there.

Houthi forces attacked al-Makha and Marib again on Aug. 16, Al Jazeera reported.

Government forces have answered with air operations of their own. Officials told Al Arabiya in July that the Yemeni air force had struck Houthi missile and drone launch sites in Marib and al-Jawf.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote on Aug. 12 that the escalation had raised concern about a return to full civil war.

The Aug. 6 salvo landed as Saudi Arabia braced for attacks of its own, Al Jazeera reported the following day.

The government answered on Aug. 8. Its forces struck Houthi personnel, equipment and positions along several front lines in an operation carried out before dawn, the Defence Ministry said.

That response followed a wave of missile and drone attacks that killed dozens of government soldiers and hit civilian areas in Yemen and in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, according to Al Jazeera.

The pace has not slowed. Government forces carried out 181 operations against Houthi-held areas in 24 hours, the military spokesman, Majid al-Nuzaili, said on Aug. 16.

Al-Nuzaili said drones, artillery and rocket launchers were used against Houthi positions, weapons depots and military vehicles. The claim was reported by CGTN.

The armed forces later announced 81 operations in a further 24 hours across several fronts, Yemen Monitor reported. None of the daily tallies issued by either side has been verified independently.

Houthi drones also targeted government-aligned units in the southern part of al-Khokha district in Hodeidah province on Aug. 14, according to conflict monitors.

Taiz remains divided. Government forces hold Taiz city while Houthi fighters control the ground to its north.

Al Jazeera asked on Aug. 18 what the government escalation would lead to, noting that neither side had signalled a return to negotiations.

Hadramout is Yemen’s largest governorate and runs from the centre of the country to its eastern desert. Its northern reaches carry the overland routes toward Saudi Arabia.

The fighting runs alongside one of the world’s largest relief operations. More than 22 million people in Yemen need aid, according to the United Nations humanitarian needs and response plan published in March.

That plan records 18.3 million people as acutely food insecure. It counts more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely.

The plan lists 5.2 million internally displaced people. It seeks $2.16 billion to reach 12 million of those in need.

Marib and Hadramout both host large displaced populations. Local authorities in Marib say the caseload there strains water, health and schooling.

The Emergency Forces publish their battlefield accounts through their own media channels. The media centre did not say on what day the drone was brought down.