Key points
- Children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes: Houthis
- Precision strikes were launched to defend American interests: CENTCOM
- Trump warned Iran to immediately cut support to the Houthis
SANAA, Yemen: The first US strikes against Yemen’s Houthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 21 people, Houthis said Sunday.
The Houthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza invasion, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.
An AFP photographer in the capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Houthi stronghold.
“Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Houthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.
A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Houthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously.” – Houthis’ health and environment ministry
A separate strike on a house in Saada’s Alshaaf district killed two people, Ansarollah said.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.
There was no immediate comment from British authorities.
Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Houthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.
Escalation with escalation
The Houthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the Houthis political bureau said in a statement on the Al-Masirah TV station.
Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Houthis.
Houthis, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” staunchly opposed to Israel.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza invasion, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 per cent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.
The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Houthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.
British-US attacks
The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Houthi targets, some with British support.
After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Houthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.
Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Houthi attacks on merchant shipping.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.
“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Reclassification of Houthis
Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.
“Continued Houthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to the State Department.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Houthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.
The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country.
The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Houthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.
The leader of Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a blockage of aid into Gaza within four days, signalling a possible escalation from the Houthis after their assaults tailed off in January following a ceasefire in the enclave, according to Reuters.
