LONDON: The Iran-backed Houthi militia has been accused of mutilating and desecrating the bodies of soldiers in southwestern Taiz.

Col. Majed Al-Nuzaili, a spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said on Tuesday that the Houthis had deliberately disfigured the bodies of government forces personnel returned by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Medical staff at a military hospital in Taiz discovered broken limbs, facial damage and burns on the bodies caused by exposure to liquid chemicals, he added in a statement posted on social media platform X.

Al-Nuzaili said such heinous acts violated Yemeni and international law, Islamic teachings and Yemeni tribal codes. It was not the first incident of this kind involving the Houthis, he added; in 2023, Yemeni government forces received the bodies of executed soldiers that had been burned until they were unrecognizable.

Al-Nuzaili later announced that government forces carried out 1,382 strikes on Houthi targets on Tuesday as part of its Dawn of Yemen campaign. At least 440 Houthi members and field commanders were “neutralized,” while 146 vehicles, pieces of weaponry and equipment were destroyed or disabled, he said.