US launches new airstrikes in Yemen amid Houthi threats to shipping

The United States carried out new airstrikes on Yemen on Monday, the Houthis’ Al Masirah TV said, expanding the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Responding to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement’s threats to international shipping, the US launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Al Masirah said.

At least 53 people have been killed in the attacks, the Houthi-run health ministry said on Sunday. Five children and two women were among the victims and 98 have been hurt

More from World

Yemen's Houthis claim fourth attack on US fleet in 72 hours ‘Hell will rain down’ on Yemen's Houthis as US launches massive airstrikes

The Houthis, an armed movement that has taken control of the most populous parts of Yemen despite nearly a decade of Saudi-led bombing, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce.

The strikes, which one U.S. official told Reuters might continue for weeks, come as Washington ramps up sanctions pressure on Iran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

An Emirati official last week passed on a letter from Trump proposing nuclear talks with Tehran - a proposal that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected as “deception” by Washington.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

Iranian Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran would respond to the letter “after full scrutiny” of it.

The Houthis say their attacks, which have forced companies to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza.

The U.S. and its allies characterise them as indiscriminate and a menace to global trade.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday the militants would target U.S. ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues attacks on Yemen.

Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the ragtag group has become an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired an arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia and the West say the arms come from Iran. Tehran denies this.

While Iran champions the Houthis, the Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran, and experts on Yemen say they are motivated primarily by a domestic agenda.

The Houthis’ military spokesman, without providing evidence, said in a televised statement early on Monday that the group had launched a second attack against the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.

‘Axis of resistance’

The Houthis are part of what has been called the “Axis of Resistance” - an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias that also includes the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and is backed by Iran.

Israel has severely weakened many of Iran’s regional allies since being attacked by Hamas gunmen in October 2023.

Israel has assassinated the top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and the fall of another Iranian ally, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, also dealt a blow to Tehran. But the Houthis are still standing, along with pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

In further violence in the Middle East, an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian men in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said on Monday.

Israel’s military, which began its Gaza campaign after the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October, 2023, said it had conducted operations in central Gaza and Rafah against “terrorists” operating near their forces and trying to plant bombs.

The bloodshed underscores the fragility of a three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US. There was no sign of progress from renewed talks on sustaining a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

The Houthis said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza. Its fighters have also fired drones and missiles towards Israel.

Israel, which has hit multiple Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, has warned the militants to halt their strikes, saying they risked the same “miserable fate” as Hamas, Hezbollah and Assad. Trump has warned Iran to halt support for the Houthis.