Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Sixty-Eight Reported Killed by US Airstrike on African Migrant Facility in Yemen
Dave DeCamp
30 Apr 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Yemen
Aftermath of the strike on a migrant detention facility in Saada (photo via the SABA news agency)

The detention facility appears to be the one that was previously targeted by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Originally published in Antiwar.com.

Sixty-eight people were killed by a US airstrike on a detention facility for African migrants in Yemen’s northwestern Saada province, Yemen’s Al Masirah TV has reported.

Another 47 were injured by the US attack, which hit the facility early Monday morning. Footage and photos of the aftermath of the strike show bodies strewn in the rubble and wounded African migrants being treated at a hospital.

A Pentagon official told Reuters that the US military was aware of the reports of civilian casualties. “We are currently conducting our battle-damage assessment and inquiry into those claims,” the official said.

The Pentagon has shared virtually no details about its bombing campaign in Yemen, which US Central Command acknowledged on Sunday, claiming it was withholding information to preserve “operational security.”

The strike on the migrant facility is the second-deadliest US attack on Yemen since President Trump launched his bombing campaign on March 15. On April 17, the US bombed the Ras Isa fuel port in Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeidah, killing 80 civilians, mostly workers at the port.

Authorities in Yemen strongly condemned the US attack on the migrant facility as a war crime. “The United States of America did not stop at killing Yemeni citizens and targeting civilian objects in Yemen, but its heinous crimes extended to targeting African migrants who arrived in Yemen in search of safety and stability,” Yemen’s National Committee for Refugee Affairs said, according to the SABA news agency.

“They were housed in a shelter center operating under the knowledge and supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration,” the committee added.

Reuters said that it verified the location of the migrant facility in Saada and that it was the same facility that was targeted by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition in January 2022. According to the Yemen Data Project, the Saudi strike killed 91 civilians.

Many African migrants attempt the journey through Yemen, looking for work in Saudi Arabia. Saudi border guards have been brutal in their efforts to keep migrants out and have been accused of slaughtering hundreds of Africans on the Saudi-Yemen border.

The US bombing campaign in Yemen has taken a huge toll on civilians, but the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, remain undeterred and continue to launch attacks on Israel and US warships in the region. Yemeni air defenses have also gotten better at shooting down US MQ-9 Reaper drones, impeding US surveillance efforts.

US airstrikes also hit residential areas of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday night, killing at least eight people, including women and children. Yemeni media reported dozens of civilian casualties in the strikes.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Monday that Yemeni forces responded to the US massacres by launching a drone and missile attack on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships. “The Yemeni Armed Forces will persist to target and pursue the aircraft carrier and all enemy warships in the Red and Arabian Seas until the aggression against Yemen is halted,” Saree said.

The Houthis have maintained they won’t end attacks on Israel or their blockade on Israeli-linked shipping unless there’s a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. But a senior member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau has said the Houthis would stop attacks on US warships if the US stopped bombing Yemen, although there’s no sign the US is considering the offer.

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

Yemen
War on African people
War and Empire
Middle East

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Light of Palestine Will Lead the Way to Global Liberation
18 March 2026
Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, recently gave a presentation at the 4th International Conference “Palestine: The Nation
Joseph Massad
Who threatens the Arab world: Iran or the US and Israel?
18 March 2026
It should be clear to Gulf Arab states hosting US bases that the American presence does not protect them but instead places them in danger.
The Cuban Institute of Friendship with The Peoples
We Express our Firm Solidarity with the Iranian People: Statement from the ICAP
04 March 2026
In this statement, the Cuban Institute for Friendship of the Peoples (ICAP) expresses solidarity with Iran and condemns the United States and I
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Standing with Iran
25 February 2026
The task of the left, of all anti-imperialists, is to oppose U.S. aggression around the world.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Anti-Imperialist Imperative: Confronting Globalized Fascism
18 February 2026
Ajamu Baraka, BAR Editor and Columnist, gave this presentation at the U.S. Peace Council Webinar on Iran.
Sarah B.
Gaza to Donbass: How Israel and Ukraine Built a Fascist, Transnational War Machine
10 September 2025
From Bandera to Ben-Gurion, an axis of ethno-supremacy is rising, fueled by U.S. backing. Same guns. Same flags. Same ideology.
Mohamad Elmasry
Israel's attack on Qatar should be a wake-up call for the Arab world
10 September 2025
The strike on Doha shows that Arab regimes' silence and passivity in the face of Israeli violence will only invite further aggression.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: The Beirut Jokebook, June Jordan, 1982
25 June 2025
“What did the Arab lady say to the Israeli tank?”
x
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Tactical Failure of Israel/U.S. Attacks on Iran Is Leading Both to a Strategic Disaster
25 June 2025
The U.S.
Ramzy Baroud
Politics or Empty Rhetoric? Examining Trump’s Call for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
12 February 2025
Donald Trump recently made several statements declaring his intent to commit a full-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Gaza Strip.

More Stories


  • Jalessah T. Jackson
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle”: An Interview with Jalessah T. Jackson
    17 Jul 2024
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle” is a space for parent-organizers to share their experiences practicing liberated parenting that reflects revolutionary ideals. This week, Roberto…
  • Essam Elkorghli , Matteo Capasso
    Planning Crimes: 2024 NATO Summit’s Agenda
    17 Jul 2024
    This year's NATO Summit was a show of the West's commitment to warmongering and its plans to wreak havoc around the world to maintain its dominance.
  • SCOTUS 2018
    Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    Obama and Democrats Share the Blame For Trump's Supreme Court
    17 Jul 2024
    The late Bruce Dixon, a Black Agenda Report co-founder and Managing Editor, provided this important analysis in 2018. We are told that the current composition of the Supreme Court with its…
  • Jake Johnston
    Give Peace a Chance in Haiti
    17 Jul 2024
    The West, especially the U.S. has kept Haiti in a state of instability in order to achieve its imperialist aims. The violence we see today in the country is the result of the violence inflicted on it…
  • Janvieve Williams Comrie
    Panama Escalates Measures in a Pre Existing Migration Crisis
    17 Jul 2024
    Panama is tightening its border policy to stop migrants from entering the country by making the conditions of migrating through the Darién Gap even more dangerous and inhumane.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us