Death toll in Yemen prison airstrike rises to 23 with 7 still missing, Houthis say

A Saudi-led coalition's airstrike on a Houthi-run prison in northern Yemen on Monday raised the death toll to 23, with seven people still unaccounted for, according to the Houthis. The prison collapsed following the coalition's attack on the strategic city of Hazm in the Jawf province. The Houthi-controlled civil defense agency in Jawf reported that a child among the fatalities.

Rescue teams are currently searching for the remaining seven missing individuals. The Houthi spokesman, Anees al-Asbahi, added that the strike also injured at least seven people, including a woman who was visiting her husband. The flare-up of violence marks a significant escalation in the renewed fighting between the Saudi-backed coalition and the Houthis, a proxy group of Iran.

This intensifying conflict is further destabilizing a region already gripped by nearly three years of turmoil, most recently exacerbated by the Iranian-American war that adversely affected the global economy.