US fighter jets have carried out a series of air raids across Yemen, killing at least 31 people after President Donald Trump warned the Houthi group not to attack ships passing through the Red Sea, reports Al Jazeera.
The US raids, the most significant military action since Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Houthis threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
The US attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday, on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as areas in Saada, al-Bayda and Radaa, killed 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, spokesperson for Yemen’s Ministry of Health, Anis al-Asbahi, posted on X.
The victims in Saada included four children and a woman.
The Houthi group warned that the strikes “will not pass without response”. The Houthi website slammed what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
Trump, in a post on social media, promised to “use overwhelming lethal force” and ordered Iran to “immediately” cut its support.
“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,” the US president said in a statement on Truth Social, his social media site.
“I have ordered the US military today to launch a decisive and powerful military operation against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” he said, adding that Washington “will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”.
Trump also told Iran it needed to stop supporting the Houthis immediately. He said if Iran threatens the US, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attacks and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate its foreign policy.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have yet to attack any ships despite threatening to do so last week over Israel’s blockade on all food, fuel and other supplies into the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, a Houthi spokesman accused the US of overstating the threat to shipping operations to influence public opinion.
“What the US president claims about a threat to international navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait is false and misleading to international public opinion,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam said.
“The maritime embargo declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited only to Israeli navigation until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity,” he added.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
