US fighter jets have carried out a series of air raids across Yemen, killing at least 31 people after President Donald Trump warned the Houthi group not to attack ships passing through the Red Sea.
The US raids, the most significant military action since Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Houthis threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
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end of listThe US attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday, on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as areas in Saada, al-Bayda and Radaa, killed 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, spokesperson for Yemen’s Ministry of Health, Anis al-Asbahi, posted on X.
The victims in Saada included four children and a woman.
The Houthi group warned that the strikes “will not pass without response”. The Houthi website slammed what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
Trump, in a post on social media, promised to “use overwhelming lethal force” and ordered Iran to “immediately” cut its support.
“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,” the US president said in a statement on Truth Social, his social media site.
“I have ordered the US military today to launch a decisive and powerful military operation against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” he said, adding that Washington “will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”.
Trump also told Iran it needed to stop supporting the Houthis immediately. He said if Iran threatens the US, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attacks and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate its foreign policy.
‘False, misleading’
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have yet to attack any ships despite threatening to do so last week over Israel’s blockade on all food, fuel and other supplies into the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, a Houthi spokesman accused the US of overstating the threat to shipping operations to influence public opinion.
“What the US president claims about a threat to international navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait is false and misleading to international public opinion,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam said.
“The maritime embargo declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited only to Israeli navigation until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity,” he added.
The political bureau of the Houthis issued a separate statement, describing the attacks as a “war crime” and promised to respond.
“The aggression will not go unanswered,” it said. “Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation.”
In Sanaa, residents said at least four air raids rocked the eastern Geraf neighbourhood in the Shuayb district, terrifying women and children in the area.
“The explosions were very strong,” said Abdallah al-Alffi. “It was like an earthquake.”
Flames and smoke rise from the damaged Greek-flagged oil tanker MV Sounion after an attack by the Houthis on the Red Sea, September 15, 2024 [Handout via Reuters]
The Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping since November 2023, following Israel’s war on Gaza, disrupting global commerce and setting the US military on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that burned through stocks of US air defences.
The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Iran’s other allies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been severely weakened by Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, who was closely aligned with Tehran, was overthrown by rebels in December.
But throughout, Yemen’s Houthis have remained resilient and often on the offensive, sinking two vessels, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing companies to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa.
The Houthis halted the drone and missile attacks when the Gaza ceasefire was declared in January.
‘No military, political logic’
Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump was justifying the assault on Yemen to “stop” Houthi attacks, when the group had yet to launch any raids, despite threatening to do so.
“Trump says another reason is because Houthis attacked a US military warship. But that happened when he was not president,” Culhane said.
“The White House has also put out a statement, saying that before the attacks, there were 25,000 ships that transited the Red Sea annually. And that it’s now down to 10,000. This shoots down the president’s concept that nobody is actually transiting the region.
“It also said that US commercial ships have been attacked 145 times since 2023. And the last one was in December, again, before Trump was inaugurated.”
Saturday’s strikes were carried out in part by jets from the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea, officials said.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.
“Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “Freedom of Navigation will be restored.”
Earlier this month, the US designated the Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist” organisation.
Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s decision to launch attacks against the Houthis is misguided and would not subdue the group.
“For our president, who came in wanting to avoid war and wanting to be a man of peace, he’s going about it the wrong way. There are many paths that can be used before you resort to war,” Khoury said.
“If you think that Hamas, living and fighting on a very small piece of land, totally surrounded by land, air and sea, and yet, 17 months of bombardment by the Israelis did not get rid of them, the Houthis lived in a much more rugged space, mountainous regions – it would be virtually impossible to eradicate them,” he said.
“So there is no military logic to what’s happening, and there is no political logic either.”
