The US military has announced it has struck more than 800 targets in Yemen since launching sustained air and naval operations against the Iran-backed Houthi movement on 15 March.
In a statement issued on Sunday, US Central Command said its forces had “killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders” as part of efforts to counter the threat posed to shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
However, Houthi officials reported that the latest US air strike on the capital, Sanaa, killed at least eight people, including women and children. Earlier this month, Houthi authorities said US strikes on Yemen’s Red Sea coast had left at least 74 dead and 171 wounded.
The escalation follows President Donald Trump’s recent directive for large-scale strikes against Houthi-controlled areas, warning that the group would be “completely annihilated”. Trump has also threatened Iran over alleged arms supplies to the Houthis, an accusation Tehran has denied.
The US military said it had targeted weapons storage and manufacturing facilities but declined to provide detailed information about ongoing operations. It added that it would “continue to ratchet up the pressure” until attacks on commercial vessels cease.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sinking two ships, seizing another, and killing four crew members. Although the Houthis claim to be acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza conflict, they have frequently mischaracterised their targets, often striking vessels with no clear links to Israel, the US, or the UK.
The US had previously deployed Western warships to safeguard commercial shipping, but Houthi attacks persisted despite the presence of naval forces and earlier US-led airstrikes under former President Joe Biden.
Since assuming office, Trump has redesignated the Houthis as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation”, a classification the Biden administration had previously revoked to address humanitarian concerns.
Yemen’s civil war, which began over a decade ago, has devastated the nation, killing more than 150,000 people and creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. An estimated 4.8 million people have been displaced, with half the population — around 19.5 million people — now reliant on humanitarian aid.
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