Since January 2024, American and British military strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen have intensified in response to Red Sea shipping disruptions, hitting dozens of targets across Sanaa, Saada, Hodeida, and other governorates.
According to rights groups and humanitarian monitors, at least 400 civilians have been killed and over 1,000 injured in these operations—many of them in nonmilitary facilities and critical infrastructure zones.
The toll deepened further this week with one of the most devastating incidents to date: a US strike on a migrant detention center in Saada, which killed at least 68 African migrants and injured dozens more. According to local officials, the victims were unarmed and had no warning before the missile struck.
“This was a facility holding vulnerable people, not combatants,” Yasser Al Jaberi, a Yemeni journalist based in Sanaa, told The Media Line. “The strike at the detention center was a brutal crime, and the absence of accountability only deepens the pain. These people had no escape, no protection—just silence and fire.”
The Pentagon maintains that the strikes are aimed at securing maritime shipping lanes and deterring Iran-backed Houthi aggression. “These strikes are to protect freedom of navigation in international waters, not to alter Yemen’s internal dynamics,” a US official told The Media Line.
But voices inside Yemen, including journalists and analysts on the ground, are unconvinced.
“Today, the feelings of the Yemeni people are practically dead; most are living a slow death, either from hunger or under aerial bombardment,” Al Jaberi said. “The conditions are extremely dire, and these strikes now provoke only deep resentment and sorrow among the people.”
Yemen is facing one of the world’s worst hunger crises, with millions on the brink of famine due to years of war, economic collapse, and aid blockades.
Tawfik Alhamidi, a Yemeni lawyer and head of the SAM for Rights and Liberties nonprofit, told the Media Line that the US has failed to achieve its strategic goals regarding the Houthi group.
“They aim to secure maritime routes, deter Iranian influence, deny Houthis leverage in negotiations, and reassure regional allies,” Alhamidi said. “But despite all this, the Houthis have not been fundamentally weakened. They’ve adapted.”
Indeed, years of war have taught the Houthis to survive. “They’ve dispersed their assets, fortified themselves in the mountains, and shifted to asymmetric tactics,” Mareb Al-Ward, a Yemeni political analyst and journalist, told The Media Line. He added that the Houthis “remain operational” despite US strikes.
Houthis claim shooting down MQ-9 Reaper drones
In recent weeks, the Houthis have indeed demonstrated their ability to target US military assets, shooting down several MQ-9 Reaper drones—each worth approximately $30 million. According to defense analysts, the group has used surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare to disable or destroy at least seven drones since February, causing significant financial and operational losses for the United States.
The US characterizes its military actions in Yemen as precision operations targeting terrorist infrastructure, but the human toll keeps rising. Earlier this month, an airstrike on Ras Isa port left more than 250 workers dead or wounded, reportedly with no advance warning.
“There should have been a warning to evacuate them before the strike,” Al Jaberi said.
Within Houthi-run areas, information is tightly controlled. According to Alhamidi, the Houthis have launched a “systemic campaign of intimidation” aimed at preventing activists, journalists, and civil society organizations from leaking information. “Even leaking information about strike zones can lead to threats of execution,” he said.
Houthi crackdowns on free speech aren’t a new phenomenon, Al-Ward said, but they are intensifying. “These conditions also make it harder for the world to know the real cost of this war,” he explained.
Despite their resilience, the Houthis are not universally supported. Alhamidi described a “gradual erosion of public support—especially as repression, poverty, and corruption worsen.”
Many in Yemen support the Palestinian cause and oppose foreign intervention, Al-Ward said, “but that doesn’t mean they back Houthi rule.” What Yemenis want, he said, “is peace, food, and some kind of future.”
The Houthis are sometimes described as an Iranian proxy much like Hezbollah or Shiite militias in Iraq, but Alhamidi described the Houthi-Iranian relationship as “strategic coordination, not subordination.” A hardline faction within the group receives training and guidance from Tehran, he said, but the Houthis maintain tactical independence in Yemen.
Many expected Houthi behavior to soften as the Shiite axis has lost power in the region. “Instead, they escalated,” Al-Ward said. “They’re testing boundaries—trying to boost their negotiating position without losing regional tolerance.”
Beyond the front lines, daily life in Yemen continues to collapse. “The economic situation is catastrophic,” Alhamidi said. “People have no salaries. Prices are soaring. Aid is vanishing. Even relief workers are being arrested.”
“Infrastructure is falling apart—hospitals, schools, water networks,” he continued. “Each new airstrike further delays food and medicine. Yemen is spiraling into one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes on the planet.”
Meanwhile, the internationally recognized Yemeni government, represented by the Presidential Leadership Council, has little domestic presence.
“They suffer from deep internal divisions and rely heavily on foreign backing,” Al Jaberi explained. “The people don’t see them as legitimate.”
Alhamidi added that the council has failed to “deliver basic governance” to the people.
He described three possible paths forward for Yemen: “A violent confrontation if diplomacy fails; an UN-sponsored settlement where the Houthis are part of a transitional government; or deeper fragmentation, with Yemen descending further into division and foreign interference.”
“Without transitional justice, without political reform, there can be no real peace. We need a new social contract—one that restores faith in the state,” he continued.
Al-Ward added that tribal dynamics in Yemen could tip the scales. “Tribes are the most serious internal challenge to the Houthis. They’re watching, waiting,” he said.
If there is any bridge across this uncertain landscape, it may lie in Oman’s quiet mediation, which Alhamidi said “has become essential” “They maintain backchannels between the Houthis, the Saudis, and the international community—and they do it without imposing conditions,” he explained.
China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are also expanding their roles. “But only a Yemeni-led solution, supported rather than dictated by outsiders, can bring real stability,” Al-Ward said.
As the civilian body count rises and airstrikes continue, the silence from international corridors is felt deeply on Yemeni streets. The crisis, long eclipsed by more visible conflicts, is now crying out for a reckoning.
As Alhamidi put it, “This country cannot afford another decade of war, and Yemenis—civilians, not soldiers—are paying the price every single day.”
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