According to media reports, the death toll has reached 31 after the US attack on several Houthi positions in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, has launched a series of large-scale airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels following their threats to resume attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea. The strikes, which began on Saturday and extended into Sunday, targeted key Houthi strongholds in Sanaa and Saada.
The airstrikes come after US President Donald Trump issued a stern warning, declaring that “hell will rain down” in response to Houthi aggression that jeopardises the safety of global shipping lanes. He warned Houthis that if they do not stop their attacks, “starting today… Hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before.” The Houthis had threatened to target vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for the blockade on Gaza, heightening tensions in an already volatile region.
The Houthis is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military movement that originated in Yemen in the 1990s. The leadership stemmed from the Houthi tribe, from which it derives its name. The Houthis emerged in opposition to Yemen’s government and later expanded their influence through a decade-long insurgency that culminated in their takeover of Sanaa in 2014, effectively deposing Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
US warplanes targeted multiple Houthi sites in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the northern province of Saada. The strikes were carried out in retaliation for the Houthi militia’s threats to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea following the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has now entered its third week.
Initial reports indicated 13 fatalities, but the death toll has since increased to 31, with casualties expected to rise as more details emerge. According to he Houthi-run Health Ministry, at least nine civilians were killed in the US strikes on Yemen.
The Houthi TV reported four airstrikes in the Al-Jarraf residential neighbourhood in northern Sanaa and several other airstrikes on the Shoab residential neighbourhood in eastern Sanaa on Saturday night. Later in the evening, fresh strikes hit sites in the northern part of the province’s namesake central city, Saada, the group’s northern main stronghold. No further details were provided.
According to Locals, the strikes in Sanna targeted ammunition and rocket depots near the Houthi-controlled state television station in the Al-Jarraf neighbourhood. The white smoke plume could be seen rising from the neighbourhood, and a series of explosions were triggered following the airstrikes, witnesses added.
This is the first military operation conducted by the US military against the Houthi sites since US President Donald Trump assumed power in January and redesigned the group as a “foreign terrorist organisation.”
Trump posted on social media Truth Social that the aerial attacks on the “terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defences were to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore navigational freedom.”
The recent US airstrikes come in response to Houthi aggression in the Red Sea, where they have been targeting merchant and military vessels linked to Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The group claims its attacks are in retaliation for Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which has escalated since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis view their operations as part of a broader regional resistance against what they perceive as Western-backed aggression in West Asia.
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President Trump, in a statement, said that the Houthis’ attacks on international shipping amounted to “piracy, violence, and terrorism” and that the US military would respond with overwhelming force. Trump also warned Iran, demanding an end to its support for the Houthis, or else face consequences. The US military’s latest offensive marks an escalation in Washington’s efforts to curb Houthi influence and disrupt their military capabilities.
The Houthis have been disturbing the International trade in the Red Sea since the start of the Israel operation in Gaza in response to Hamas’s brutal attack on October 23. Attacking Houstis and putting them under pressure will help the smoothness of International trade passing through one of the important shipping lanes of the Red Sea.