Direct proof of use
The RPG-27's documented Yemen Civil War appearance rests on seizure and transfer evidence, not a confirmed battlefield firing. A United Nations Panel of Experts report listed an RPG-27 variant among September 2016 Ma'rib seizure material and illustrated it as an RPG-27 from Ma'rib.
CSIS later summarized the same weapon as one RPG-27 reportedly seized by UAE troops from a Houthi base in Safir, Ma'rib Governorate, in September 2016, while in transit to Houthi-Saleh-controlled territory.
Sources: UN Panel of Experts on Yemen 2018, CSIS Missile War in Yemen
Timeline
In mid-2016, the UN Panel identified reported seizures of anti-tank guided weapons on the land route from Oman to Ma'rib, which it treated as an indicator that the route had opened for such trafficking around that time.
In September 2016, the panel's annex recorded an RPG-27 variant in Ma'rib seizure evidence. CSIS placed the same RPG-27 in Safir, Ma'rib Governorate, and connected it to transfer toward Houthi-Saleh-controlled territory.
Sources: UN Panel of Experts on Yemen 2018, CSIS Missile War in Yemen
Narrative
The RPG-27 was a small part of the wider anti-armor and rocket-weapons flow documented during the Yemen war. The UN panel described Ma'rib as a point on land smuggling routes and recorded multiple 2016 seizures involving anti-tank weapons, concealed shipments, and related materiel.
For the RPG-27 specifically, the available public record supports a Houthi-Saleh transfer or fielding context through seizure evidence. It does not, on the cited record alone, establish a named firing incident, target, casualty event, or tactical employment by Houthi-aligned fighters.
Sources: UN Panel of Experts on Yemen 2018, CSIS Missile War in Yemen
