Iran-backed rebels who have been attacking Israel and shipping in the Red Sea said children were among those killed in strikes ordered by President Trump.
Yemen's Houthi militia has vowed to retaliate after President Trump ordered massive military strikes on targets controlled by the group that it said killed at least 31 people.
The Iran-backed group said women and children were among those killed in the strikes on Saturday, the most significant U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January.
For over a year, the Houthis have been attacking Israel and threatening commercial shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with their Hamas allies, who led the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. airstrikes targeted Houthi-controlled areas across Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, as well as the provinces of Saada, al-Bayda, Hajjah and Dhamar, according to Houthi reports. The strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women,” said Anis al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry.
Casualty figures could not be independently verified, and the United States did not provide any estimates of the number of people killed or injured in the strikes.
US Central Command, which released video of a bomb blast that leveled a compound in Yemen, said the United States used precision strikes to “protect American interests, deter enemies and restore freedom of navigation.”
