US, Houthis vow escalation
CAIRO—The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the US launched airs trikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the US strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.
“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday.
President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.
Houthi leaders targeted
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. The attacks stopped when an Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in January—a day before Trump took office —but last week the Houthis said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.
There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then
The US air strikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He didn’t identify them or give evidence.
