The US military launched a bombing attack on Yemen on Saturday that followed through to Sunday morning, killing more than 30 according to Yemeni health officials. The strikes targeted the Houthi-held capital Sanaa and its surroundings and the Saada Province to the north, bordering Saudi Arabia. The Iran-backed Houthis said on Sunday that airstrikes also targeted Hodeida, Bayda and Marib.
American media quoted US officials as saying that the air and naval strikes hit Houthi radars, air defences and missile and drone systems, in addition to targeting one Houthi commander. Some reports said General Yahya Sarea, spokesperson for the armed forces of the rebels’ government, was killed. But no Houthi confirmation of these reports has come at the time of writing this report.
According to reports by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Axios and other American media, US officials said the airstrikes against the Houthis’ arsenal, much of which is buried deep underground, could last for several weeks, intensifying in scope and scale depending on the militants’ reaction.
Almost all public statements from the White House and the Pentagon focused on president Donald Trump authorising the military campaign, with videos showing fighter jets taking off from aircraft carrier Harry S Truman in the Red Sea. Pictures also showed Trump with his aides following the operation live from a control room.
Trump boasted about the attack on his social media platform, Truth. “Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen… They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” Trump wrote before turning to Iran’s rulers saying: “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable” (the capital letters are Trump’s).
Trump blamed his predecessor for being lenient. “Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going… The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, Trump said, adding: “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY.”
In fact former president Joe Biden’s administration had carried out many attacks on Yemen, some jointly with the UK military, since January last year. But that didn’t stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea or the launching of missiles and drones against Israel, some hitting Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have been threatening and attacking ships in the southern Red Sea since November 2023 in support for Palestinians in Gaza suffering from the brutal Israeli campaign. This led to many shipping companies avoiding the waterway, with a detour around Africa for their vessels shouldering higher costs and delays. Since the ceasefire between Israel and the Gazans earlier this year, the Houthis have stopped their attacks, but warned they would return if Israel reneged on the agreement.
The drive behind the recent attack on Yemen was not only due to the Trump administration’s concern for global maritime issues, but also the fact that the Houthis didn’t stop targeting American military deployments in the region. Some suggest that “the group’s assaults in recent weeks have angered Mr. Trump”. They fired a surface-to-air missile at an Air Force F-16 flying over the Red Sea, missing the jet. A US military MQ-9 Reaper drone disappeared over the Red Sea the same day and Houthi militants claimed to have shot one down.
The new American administration has been subject to some criticism, not only from the Democratic opposition internally but from European allies, as being soft on Russia regarding its war in Ukraine. A strong military operation against Yemen might detract from such accusations. As Andrew Hammond of Oxford University puts it, “It’s all for show”. Hammond told Al-Ahram Weekly, “Trump ordered these attacks after the Houthis said they’d renew Red Sea operations over Gaza. But Trump was waiting for his excuse because Yemen is seen as an easy arena for him to look tough at little cost.”
Another interesting interpretation came from a Republican representative at the Congress. Thomas Massie wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Regarding US activity in Yemen: I recently said to watch for a new military engagement to compensate for the pull back in Ukraine. The Military Industrial Complex demands about $50 billion a year from our government, above and beyond what’s necessary to defend our own country.”
Even if the attacks on Yemen continued for some time, it might not amount to a full-scale American war in the region. American media reported that some national security aides to Trump “want to pursue an even more aggressive campaign that could lead the Houthis to essentially lose control of large parts of the country’s north”. But Trump has not yet authorised that strategy, wary of entangling the United States in a Middle East conflict he pledged to avoid during his election campaign last year.
With such attacks on a “soft target” like Yemen, Trump could show that he is a “tough guy”, send a message to Iran as a prelude to anticipated negotiations on its nuclear programme and appease Israel’s supporters in the United States, who are pressuring for answering Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.
“But one interesting element is that it looks like they’re targeting senior leaders this time by attacking neighbourhoods in Sanaa and Saada. They think after Israel weakened Hezbollah by killing its leaders they can do the same. The Houthis have been preparing for months for this though … It seems clear too that Trump does not have the stomach for a bigger conflagration over Yemen. This attack is essentially lightweight, and the Houthis are likely to draw more support from it. With movements like this, if you don’t defeat them decisively, they win,” Hammond said.
Weakening the Houthis could lead to changes in Yemen at least. Some commentators in the region quickly went so far as to say that the rebels might be forced to accept a peaceful solution. Or that could encourage the legitimate, Saudi-backed government to take on the Houthi militia. As a Saudi political analyst puts it, if this campaign weakened the Houthi rebels “to the point of bringing them into political settlement in the country to end the internal conflict that will be welcomed by all parties involved.”
It is still unclear how a renewed bombing campaign against the Houthis would succeed where previous American-led military efforts largely failed. Though American military officials said these strikes would hit a broader set of Houthi targets and would be carried out over weeks, Trump did not elaborate on that in his message on social media. One thorny issue, admitted last year by Israeli military and intelligence figures, is that “intelligence gathering from Yemen is too difficult” despite continuous reconaissance by planes and drones.
On-the-ground intelligence about where the Houthis keep their arsenal of missiles and drones or where the workshops they manufacture them in are is hard to verify. Yet, evidence recently examined by weapons researchers showed that the rebels may have acquired new advanced technology that makes their drones more difficult to detect and helps them fly even farther.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 20 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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