Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis
WASHINGTON/ADEN, YEMEN—US President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 31 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days.
Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was urging the United States to cease the strikes, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
“Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue in order to find a solution that would prevent further bloodshed,” the ministry said.
The unfolding strikes—which one US official told Reuters might continue for weeks—represent the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. It came as the United States ramped up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
Injured
“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!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
At least 31 were killed and 101 others injured in the US strikes, mostly women and children, Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said in an updated toll on Sunday.
The Houthis’ political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime.”
The Houthis have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce and setting the US military on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that have burned through stocks of US air defenses.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the Houthis have attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023. The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas militants.
