Direct proof of use
Houthi-aligned forces fielded Hwasong-family ballistic missiles from Yemen's pre-war arsenals during the 2014 Yemen Civil War. Oryx lists Hwasong-5/6 missiles in the Houthi missile inventory as inherited from pre-war Yemeni Army stocks, mostly converted into Burkan missiles, and depleted.
The broader Scud-family use record is documented by CSIS. Its Yemen missile-war study reports that coalition airstrikes targeted ballistic-missile depots and launchers at the opening of the Saudi-led intervention in March 2015, that Houthi forces fired a Scud missile toward Khamis Mushait on June 6, 2015, and that a 2016 UN report treated June 29, 2015 as the first confirmed Scud-C launch, with an earlier June 6 launch likely.
Sources: Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook, The Missile War in Yemen, Houthis
Timeline
The public record moves from inherited stock to battlefield launches and then conversion. The Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against ballistic missile depots and launchers in March 2015. Houthi forces fired Scud-family missiles by June 2015, while Oryx later assessed the inherited Hwasong-5/6 stock as mostly converted into Burkan missiles.
From September 2016 onward, CSIS records the appearance of new Houthi Scud-variant Burkan missiles, including Burkan-1 launches against Saudi targets and a January 2017 strike on a Saudi-UAE base on Zuqar Island. This evidence supports the Hwasong-5 entry as an inherited missile stock and conversion base, not as a source for every later Iranian-linked Burkan-2H or Qiam-derived launch.
Sources: The Missile War in Yemen, Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook
Narrative
Yemen's pre-war missile inventory gave Houthi-aligned forces a starting ballistic-missile arsenal when they took control of state military stores during the conflict. Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance describes Yemeni government holdings that included Soviet Scud missiles, Tochka missiles, and North Korean Hwasong 5 and 6 missiles; it also links Houthi access to ballistic-missile stores to former military personnel allied with Ali Abdullah Saleh after the takeover of Sanaa.
In battlefield terms, the Hwasong-5/6 stock belonged to the war's long-range strike layer. CSIS describes extensive Houthi missile fire against coalition bases, Saudi border areas, population centers, and infrastructure, while separating older Scud-family stocks from later missiles that appeared after the conflict began. Oryx's inventory places Hwasong-5/6 specifically among inherited Yemeni Army weapons and says most were converted into Burkan missiles before stocks were depleted.
The strongest sourced claim for this Hwasong-5 page is therefore fielding, inheritance, and conversion in Houthi-aligned service. Sources support Scud and Scud-C launches in 2015 and Burkan launches from 2016, but they do not consistently identify individual early launches as unmodified Hwasong-5 rounds rather than related Scud or Hwasong-6 missiles.
Sources: Houthis, The Missile War in Yemen, Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook
