US President Donald Trump says he has ordered a “decisive” military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, opening a new salvo against the Iran-backed group that has targeted shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
The US strikes killed at least 23 people and injured more than 20 others in Yemen on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the US would deploy “overwhelming lethal force” against the Houthis “until we have achieved our objective,” accusing the group of waging “an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”
He said US personnel were carrying out aerial attacks on Houthi bases, leaders and missile defenses “to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump wrote.
Trump also delivered a warning for Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, saying it must “immediately” end support for the group. He warned that if Iran threatened the American people or their president, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
At least 13 people were killed and nine injured in US strikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa, according to the health ministry. Another 10 were killed and 13 others injured – most of them children and women – in the northern province of Saada, the ministry said.
In Saada, strikes targeted a power station in the city of Dahyan, causing a power outage in the city and its suburbs, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported.
“The US aggression against Yemen is a criminal escalation that will not break the will of the Yemeni people and will only increase their determination to support Gaza and the resistance,” Houthi-run health ministry spokesperson Anees Alasbahi said in a post on X.
Trump approved the Houthi strike plan — which he requested be drawn up several weeks ago — late last week, and the final order was given on Saturday to begin what officials describe as a sustained attack on the group’s positions in Yemen.
Some members of Congress received briefings from the White House on Saturday.
Further actions after Saturday will depend on battle damage assessments from this series of strikes, a US defense official told CNN. But there is expected to be more action against the Houthis over the next several weeks.
A larger campaign of strikes took time to organize and plan because the US had to collect the intelligence necessary for more sweeping attacks against the Houthis. A senior military official recently told CNN the intel collection required for broader strikes had been completed.
