At least 24 people were killed as the US launched large-scale strikes on Yemen, with President Donald Trump warning Iran-aligned Houthis that “their time is up”. Trump also warned Iran that it needed to “immediately” halt support for the group.
Here Are Top Points On US’ Strikes On Yemen:
- At least 13 civilians were reportedly killed in US strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, while 11 others, including four children and one woman, were killed in the northern province of Saada, a Houthi stronghold.
- “The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” one of the residents told news agency Reuters.
- The Houthis’ political bureau described the strikes, the first since Donald Trump took office in January, as a “war crime”. It said the Yemeni armed forces are “fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation”.
- Trump cited the Houthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping and vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”.
- “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 said in a social media post.
- Trump also warned Iran that it needed to “immediately” end the support for Houthis. “Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had “no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy.” “End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism. Stop killing of Yemeni people,” he wrote on X after the strikes.
- This month, the Trump administration also reclassified the Houthi group as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.
- The Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have launched a series of attacks on ships off its coast after the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023, disrupting global commerce. They have said the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over the war in Gaza.
- The Houthis have reportedly attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023.
(With agency inputs)