US launches large-scale attack on Yemen, killing dozens
The United States launched a large-scale bombing campaign against Yemen's Houthis on Saturday, killing and wounding dozens. The US president warned that "hell will rain down upon" the group if it did not stop attacking international shipping.
At least 31 people were killed and 101 others wounded in the strikes, mostly women and children, Anis al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Yemeni health ministry, said on Sunday.
Four children and a woman were killed in a strike that hit two houses in northern Saada province, Yemeni media reported. Footage shared on local media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room.
The attack marks the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Donald Trump took office. A US official told Reuters that the attacks on Yemen might continue for weeks.
Trump, in a social media post, vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force like nothing you have seen before” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along the vital maritime corridor.
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The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have repeatedly launched drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli attacks in Gaza.
US attacks a 'war crime'
The campaign has severely impacted the shipping route, which typically handles around 12 percent of global shipping traffic, prompting many companies to take an expensive detour around southern Africa.
The Ansar Allah political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime".
"Our Yemeni Armed Forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation," it said in a statement.
Air strikes were reported in the capital, Sanaa, as well as in al-Bayda and Radaa.
The US military also targeted Houthi military sites in the southwestern city of Taiz and a power station in the town of Dahyan in Saada, leading to a power outage, according to local media and witness reports.
Trump also issued a warning to Iran, demanding that it immediately halt support for the Houthis. He said that if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it".
The top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, responded on Sunday that the Houthis operate independently and make their own strategic and operational decisions.
"We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they take their threats into action," Salami told state media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, called on the US to halt the strikes on Yemen and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.
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