Direct proof of use
Tochka-family tactical ballistic missile use in the 2014 Yemen Civil War is documented in specialist missile-war reporting and contemporary accounts from both coalition-facing and Houthi-aligned sources. CSIS identifies two 2015 Tochka strikes in Yemen: a September strike on a coalition military base in Marib province and a December strike in Taiz province.
The Marib case is corroborated by Associated Press reporting carried by The Guardian, which said pro-government Yemeni security officials attributed the deaths of Emirati soldiers to a Houthi missile impact on a weapons storage depot in Marib and that Houthi media officials confirmed firing a Soviet-era Tochka missile. The December Bab al-Mandab/Taiz strike is documented by Defense News, citing a coalition source who identified the weapon as an OTR-21 Tochka mobile short-range ballistic missile system, and by Saba, which published a Houthi-aligned armed-forces statement claiming a Tochka missile was fired at an operations center in Bab al-Mandab in Taiz province.
The cited sources usually use Tochka, OTR-21, or SS-21 terminology rather than distinguishing every Yemeni launch as the later Tochka-U variant. This record treats the Yemen evidence as Tochka-family use under the catalog's Tochka-U/OTR-21 parent entry.
Sources: The Missile War in Yemen, Guardian Marib Tochka Strike, Defense News Bab al-Mandab Strike, Saba Bab al-Mandab Tochka Claim
Timeline
On September 4, 2015, a Houthi missile struck a weapons storage area near coalition troops in Marib province. The Guardian's Associated Press report said Houthi media officials confirmed a Soviet-era Tochka launch, while CSIS later summarized the incident as a single SS-21 Tochka strike on a military base in Marib province that killed coalition personnel.
On December 14, 2015, another Tochka strike was reported in the Bab al-Mandab/Taiz area. Defense News reported that a short-range ballistic missile hit a coalition base in the Bab al-Mandab region and that the source identified the weapon as an OTR-21 Tochka. Saba separately carried a Houthi-aligned claim that the army's missile force fired a Tochka missile at an operations center in Bab al-Mandab in Taiz province.
Sources: Guardian Marib Tochka Strike, The Missile War in Yemen, Defense News Bab al-Mandab Strike, Saba Bab al-Mandab Tochka Claim
Narrative
In Yemen-war service, the Tochka role was long-range strike against coalition bases and rear-area military concentrations rather than routine frontline fire support. Both major cited incidents involved coalition military facilities: Marib in September 2015 and Bab al-Mandab/Taiz in December 2015.
The weapon appears in the early high-intensity phase after the Saudi-led coalition intervention, when Houthi-aligned forces and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh still controlled parts of Yemen's inherited ballistic-missile inventory. A UN Panel of Experts summary for 2016 described Houthi-Saleh forces as continuing to use short-range ballistic missiles and free-flight rockets against Saudi towns within 300 km of the border, supporting the broader missile-campaign context but not identifying every Tochka launch.
Casualty figures vary by source and by whether reports count confirmed national military losses, coalition-source estimates, or Houthi-aligned claims. The strongest source-backed claims for this page are narrower: Houthi-aligned forces fired Tochka-family short-range ballistic missiles, and at least two 2015 strikes were reported against coalition military bases or operations centers in Marib and Taiz.
Sources: The Missile War in Yemen, Guardian Marib Tochka Strike, Defense News Bab al-Mandab Strike, Saba Bab al-Mandab Tochka Claim, UN Panel of Experts on Yemen 2016
