At Least 19 Killed in US-Led Airstrikes in Yemen
US President Donald Trump ordered a large-scale military operation against Houthi forces in Yemen on Saturday, warning the group of attacks on the shipping industry in the Red Sea and stating that the “hell will break loose” if they did not stop.
Trump also warned Iran that it must immediately stop supporting the Houthi group, saying, “If Iran threatens the United States, ‘America will make them pay and we will not be nice!'”
The impending airstrikes, which a US official said would last for days or possibly weeks, mark the largest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. This came at a time when the United States was increasing pressure on Tehran and trying to bring the country to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
According to the Houthi-run Health Ministry, at least 13 civilians were killed and nine injured in US airstrikes on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
Six more people, including four children and a woman, were killed and 11 injured in a US airstrike on the northern province of Saada, reported the Houthi-run TV channel Al-Massirah.
The Houthi political bureau described the airstrikes as “war crimes”: “Our Yemeni forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation” it said in a statement.
Residents in Sanaa said the airstrikes hit a “Houthi stronghold” in the capital.
The airstrikes on Saturday were partly carried out by fighter jets from the USS Harry S. Truman, which is currently in the Red Sea, according to authorities.
The US Central Command, which oversees US troops in the Middle East, described the airstrikes on Saturday as the beginning of a large-scale operation across Yemen.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, the Houthi group said it would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden and thus end a phase of relative calm that began in January with the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The midnight airstrike was the first Western airstrike on Yemen since the truce agreement for the Gaza Strip took effect in January. The airstrike came a few days after Trump re-listed the Houthi as a foreign terrorist organization.
Early this week, the Houthi group announced the reinstatement of a ban on all Israeli ships that attempt to pass through the designated areas in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, after the deadline set by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi for the approval of aid shipments to Gaza expired.
“‘Every Israeli ship that tries to break this ban will be attacked in the declared operational zone. This ban will be maintained until the border crossings to the Gaza Strip are reopened and humanitarian aid, food and medicine can be introduced,'” it said in a statement from Yemen.
Sana’s efforts to stop the genocide in Gaza led in January 2024 to an operation initiated by Washington and London, which resulted in hundreds of airstrikes on the poorest country in the Arab world.