This handout picture launched by US Central Command (CENTCOM) by way of X (previously Twitter) on March 15, 2025 reveals CENTCOM forces launching an operation in opposition to Huthi targets throughout Yemen. The primary US strikes in opposition to Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took workplace in January killed at the least 20 folks, the rebels stated, as Washington warned Iran to cease backing the group. (Picture by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
SANAA, Yemen — The primary US strikes in opposition to Yemen’s Huthis since Donald Trump took workplace killed 31 folks, the rebels stated Sunday, with the US president warning “hell will rain down upon” the Iran-backed group if it didn’t cease attacking transport.
The Huthis, who’ve attacked Israel and Purple Sea transport all through the Gaza conflict, stated youngsters have been amongst these killed.
An AFP photographer within the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard explosions and noticed plumes of smoke rising.
Assaults on Sanaa, in addition to on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at the least 31 folks and wounded 101, “most of whom have been youngsters and girls,” Huthi well being ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi stated.
Footage on Huthi media confirmed youngsters and a lady amongst these being handled in a hospital emergency room, together with a dazed lady with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.
Trump, in a put up on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming deadly power” to finish the Huthi assaults, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza conflict.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he stated.
Trump additionally issued a stern warning to the group’s most important backer.
“To Iran: Help for the Houthi terrorists should finish IMMEDIATELY!” he stated, including it might be held “totally accountable” for any continued threats.
The Huthis vowed the strikes “is not going to move with out response”, whereas Iran’s prime diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and stated Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s international coverage.
The Huthi Ansarullah web site slammed what it referred to as Washington’s “legal brutality.”
US Central Command, which posted movies of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, stated “precision strikes” have been launched to “defend American pursuits, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.”
‘Escalation with escalation’
Yemenis described their panic and concern on the intense US strikes, even after years of battle.
“The home shook, the home windows shattered, and my household and I have been terrified,” stated one father of two who gave his title as Ahmed.
“I’ve been dwelling in Sanaa for 10 years, listening to shelling all through the conflict. By God, I’ve by no means skilled something like this earlier than.”
One other Yemeni father of three, who gave his title as Malik, stated his “youngsters have been screaming and crying in my arms.”
“It’s the primary time I’ve ever stated the Shahada,” he recalled, referring to the prayer that’s recited earlier than dying.
The Huthis’ political bureau stated its “forces are totally ready to confront escalation with escalation.”
The rebels, who’ve managed a lot of Yemen for greater than a decade, are a part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran teams staunchly against Israel and the USA.
They’ve launched scores of drone and missile assaults on ships within the Purple Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 instances and industrial vessels 145 instances since 2023.”
The marketing campaign put a serious pressure on the very important route, which usually carries about 12 % of world transport site visitors, forcing many corporations to take a pricey detour round southern Africa.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi assist, lashed out on the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of worldwide regulation and an assault on the nation’s sovereignty and stability.”
Iran “strongly condemned the brutal air strikes” in a press release, denouncing them as a “gross violation of the ideas of the UN Constitution.”
The top of the nation’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, stated: “Iran is not going to wage conflict, but when anybody threatens, it is going to give applicable, decisive and conclusive responses.”
‘Political dialogue’
America has launched a number of rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.
After halting their assaults when a ceasefire took impact in Gaza in January, the Huthis introduced on Tuesday that they’d resume them till Israel lifted its blockade of assist to the devastated Palestinian territory.
Trump’s assertion didn’t reference the dispute over Israel, however targeted on earlier Huthi assaults on service provider transport.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a “international terrorist group,” banning any US interplay with it.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is near Tehran.
“Continued Huthi assaults on US army and industrial transport vessels within the Purple Sea is not going to be tolerated,” Rubio informed Lavrov, in accordance with the State Division.
Russia’s international ministry stated that “Lavrov harassed the necessity for an instantaneous cessation of the usage of power and the significance for all sides to interact in political dialogue… (to) stop additional bloodshed”.
The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and have been poised to overrun many of the remainder of the nation earlier than a Saudi-led coalition intervened.
The conflict devastated the already impoverished nation.
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Preventing has largely been on maintain since a 2022 ceasefire, however the promised peace course of has stalled within the face of Huthi assaults on Israel and Israel-linked transport.
