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 , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The White Supremacist Imperative on Violence: A Black Radical Perspective on the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination
15 July 2026
The U.S.-EU-NATO axis remains intact, and its commitment to militarism represents an existential threat to the world.
​​​​​​​ 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.

More Stories


  • “The connections between policing and militaristic assault on the world are endless”: An Interview with Julian Akil Rose
    Roberto Sirvent and Julian Akil Rose
    “The connections between policing and militaristic assault on the world are endless”: An Interview with Julian Akil Rose
    01 Jun 2022
    BAR Book Forum editor Roberto Sirvent and Julian Akil Rose discuss community organizing, Black Queer Feminism, the struggle for police and prison abolition, and an end to militarism.
  • Witnessing and Making History: On Observing the 2022 Presidential Elections in Colombia
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Witnessing and Making History: On Observing the 2022 Presidential Elections in Colombia
    01 Jun 2022
    "From May 26 to May 31, I was in Cali, Colombia serving as an election observer with an international delegation of mostly Black women. This is a preliminary report."
  • Gustavo Petro Wins in Colombia, 2nd Round Battle Begins
    Orinoco Tribune
    Gustavo Petro Wins in Colombia, 2nd Round Battle Begins
    01 Jun 2022
    The Historic Pact candidates Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez won the first round of the Colombian presidential election but now face conservative candidates in a June 19 runoff.
  • 911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
    Jon Jeter
    911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
    01 Jun 2022
    Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) began after an LAPD raid on the Black Panthers in 1969 and spread throughout the country. Then as now they neither protect nor serve, as was the case in Uvalde…
  • The Rise of NATO in Africa
    Vijay Prashad
    The Rise of NATO in Africa
    31 May 2022
    NATO is not the defensive alliance of north Atlantic nations that it claims to be. It is a tool of imperialism which has spread its handiwork all over the world, including on the African…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us