The American strikes on the militia, who threaten maritime trade and Israel, entered their 10th day without any sign of stopping. They are part of a campaign by US President Donald Trump targeting the rebel group while also trying to pressure Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor.
So far, the US has not offered any specifics on the sites it is striking, though Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz claimed the attacks have “taken out key Houthi leadership, including their head missileer.” That’s something so far that’s not been acknowledged by the Houthis, though the militia have downplayed their losses in the past and exaggerated their attacks attempting to target American warships.
“We’ve hit their headquarters,” Waltz told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “We’ve hit communications nodes, weapons factories and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities.”
An apparent US strike Sunday hit a building in a western neighborhood of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, killing at least two people and wounding 13 others, the rebel-controlled SABA news agency said, citing health officials. Footage released by the militia showed the rubble of a collapsed building and pools of blood staining the gray dust covering the ground.
A building next to the collapsed structure still stood, suggesting American forces likely used a lower-yield warhead in the strike.
The Houthis also described American airstrikes targeting sites around the city of Saada, a Houthi stronghold, the Red Sea port city of Hodeida and Marib province, home to oil and gas fields still under the control of allies to Yemen’s exiled central government. Those strikes continued as the Houthis separately launched a missile attack on Israel.
The campaign of airstrikes targeting the militia, which killed at least 53 people immediately after they began March 15, started after the Houthis threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The militia in the past have had a loose definition of what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning other vessels could be targeted as well.
The Houthis had targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors during their campaign targeting ships from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships, though none have been hit so far.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting any dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decadelong stalemated war that has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
Houthi media in Yemen reported Wednesday at least 17 strikes in Saada and Amran, blaming the United States for the attacks.
The militia’s Ansarollah website said US warplanes carried out “aggressive air raids... causing material damage to citizens’ property,” but gave no details of casualties.
Washington on March 15 announced a military offensive against the Iranian-backed Houthis, promising to use overwhelming force until the group stopped firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
That day saw a wave of US air strikes that officials said killed senior Houthi leaders, and which the Houthi health ministry said killed 53 people.
Since then, Houthi-held parts of Yemen have witnessed near-daily attacks that the group has blamed on the United States, with the militia announcing the targeting of US military ships and Israel.
The Houthis began targeting shipping vessels after the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, but paused their campaign when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January.
Earlier this month, they threatened to renew attacks in the vital maritime trade route over Israel’s aid blockade on the Palestinian territory, triggering the first US strikes on Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has again denied sending war plans in the Signal chat group.
Speaking to reporters from an air strip in Hawaii, Hegseth says the information in the messages released today "doesn't look like war plans".
"They know it's not war plans", he says, "there's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information".
His job, Hegseth adds "is to provide updates in real time... that's what I did".
The messages from Hegseth, which were shared by The Atlantic, noted what time F-18 fighter aircraft were scheduled to launch, as well as when strikes would take place and in what time frame "trigger-based" attacks could occur.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slams The Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg as an "anti-Trump hater", after he was was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with top US officials
She also repeats the Trump administration's position that there was no classified information in the leaked messages
Messages from the group chat newly published by The Atlantic appear to show Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sharing information about US air strikes on Yemen earlier this month
One message from Hegseth says, in part, "Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch" and "14:15: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP"
Earlier, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a House committee that adding a journalist to a high-level chat about air strike plans was "a mistake"
Goldberg says he did not originally plan to publish the most sensitive messages from top US military and intelligence officials, but now wants the public to draw their own conclusions after the White House attempted to "downplay the significance" of the messages aid the group.
