While tensions intensify in the Middle East, an Israeli strike on Sanaa, capital of Yemen, damaged the National Museum on September 10. This operation is part of a wider offensive targeting several sites in the city. The results amounted to 46 dead and 165 injured.
The museum, located in the immediate vicinity of the targets, has undergone major damage: broken windows, damaged roofing sections, rear facade touched by bursts of buckets fallen into the interior courtyard. The site presents a soil strewn with debris and fragments of the building. No information has yet been communicated on the state of the collections, but the weakening of the building raises fears of losses. Archaeologist Amida Sholan, professor at the University of Sanaa, expressed his fears: “Our greatest concern right now is the risk of looting, especially since all the doors and windows have been completely destroyed. »»
Founded in 1971, the National Museum retains more than 75,000 artifacts, from prehistory to Islamic times, including statues, inscriptions and royal relics dating from the 1st millennium BC. First installed in the Dar Al-Shukr (Gratitude Palace), it was transferred to the Dar As-Sa’d (Palais du Happiness) during the expansion of its collections. Having become a national museum after the reunification of 1991, he was closed in 2011 during the uprisings against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, before reopening in 2024.
This strike comes in a context of military climbing. After an attack by the Houthis in July 2024 which had made a civilian victim, Israel had retaliated and the exchanges of fire continues today. Israel again bombed, on August 28, 2025, several strategic infrastructure, killing 12 members of the government, including the Prime Minister. On September 7, 2025, the Houthis pierced the Israeli defenses using a drone that hit Ramon airport.
The September 10 offensive targeted the province of Al-Jawf as well as several Sanaa sites: the military headquarters, a service station, government buildings and seats of two newspapers, September 26 and Al-Yemen. These editors won the national museum, as confirmed by Ibad al-Hayal, director of the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums of Yemen, who declared that the institution had been affected “Because of its proximity to the buildings targeted during the strikes. »»
Controlling a large part of the country, including the capital since 2014, the Houthis are at the heart of the civil war which has already caused many destruction of the Yemeni heritage. The UN and UNESCO, several representatives of which were arrested by the rebels – 19 UN members on August 31 and 4 of UNESCO – see their action hampered.
