America targets Houthis, at least 53 die in offensive

The death toll from the first US strikes on Yemen under President Donald Trump has risen to 53, including five children, the Iran-backed Huthi rebels’ health ministry said Sunday.

In what it said was the definitive toll from Saturday’s strikes, ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi posted on X that 53 people had been killed including “five children and two women” and that 98 people had been wounded.

A White House official on Sunday said a wave of United States air strikes on Yemen killed senior Houthi rebel leaders.

Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said.

A man covers bodies of victims of a US airstrike in Saada province, Yemen. AFP

US President Donald Trump said he had ordered on Saturday night’s strikes and threatened more if the rebels kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.

Houthis said they launched an attack on a United States aircraft carrier in the Red Sea on Sunday, hours after Washington hit the rebels with deadly strikes.

“In response to this (US) aggression, the armed forces conducted a military operation… targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships”, the group said in a statement, adding it had launched 18 missiles and a drone.

The United States will keep attacking Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News, “The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”

“This is about stopping the shooting at assets … in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long,” he said. “They better back off.”

A man gestures as he searches in the rubble after a US strike in Saada, Yemen. Reuters

The rebels have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes “targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.”

He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”

The Houthis, who have fought for years in their country, vowed a response.

Witnesses to the bombing said on Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity.

Footage on Houthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital.

One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP his “house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified”.

“I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said.

A man holds a fragment of a missile at the site of a US strike in Saada, Yemen. Reuters

Trump, posting on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Houthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

“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.

Trump also issued a stern warning to Tehran.

“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.

The Houthis, who had long complained of marginalisation, seized Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the government to flee south and leaving the rebels controlling large parts of the country.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths in the US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.

US Central Command, which posted videos of warplanes taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.

The Houthis’ political bureau said its “forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation”.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the two key waterways.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Houthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.

The Yemen Conflict Observatory database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Houthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.

The campaign put a major strain on the vital trade route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

Agencies