CNN —
Dozens of people have been reported killed after US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive” military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, opening a new salvo against the Iran-backed group that has targeted shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the US would deploy “overwhelming lethal force” against the Houthis “until we have achieved our objective,” signaling the start of a major operation that could last weeks and prompting the Houthis to warn of escalation.
The US strikes killed at least 31 people and injured 101 others in Yemen, mostly women and children, the Houthi-run health ministry said.
The Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels, based in Yemen, started launching drone and missile strikes on vessels in the Red Sea in late 2023 in what they say is revenge for Israel’s war in Gaza. The sustained strikes significantly impacted global trade.
The Houthis stopped their attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January, but have since threatened to resume them due to Israeli aid blockages to Gaza.
In his post, Trump accused the group of waging “an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”
He said US personnel were carrying out aerial attacks on Houthi bases, leaders and missile defenses “to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump wrote.
Further actions after Saturday will depend on battle damage assessments from this series of strikes, a US defense official told CNN. But there is expected to be more action against the Houthis over the next several weeks.
Trump also delivered a warning for Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, saying it must “immediately” end support for the group. He warned that if Iran threatened the American people or their president, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi hit back in a post on X on Sunday.
“The United States Government has no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy,” he wrote. “End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism. Stop killing of Yemeni people.”
There were fatalities in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, according to the health ministry, as well as the northern province of Saada.
In Saada, strikes targeted a power station in the city of Dahyan, causing a power outage in the city and its suburbs, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported.
Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in Yemen’s southwestern city of Taiz, Reuters reported, citing two witnesses.
The Houthis’ political bureau condemned the US strikes as a “war crime.”
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation,” it said in a statement seen by Reuters.
Trump approved the Houthi strike plan — which he requested be drawn up several weeks ago — late last week, and the final order was given on Saturday to begin what officials describe as a sustained attack on the group’s positions in Yemen.
A larger campaign of strikes took time to organize and plan because the US had to collect the intelligence necessary for more sweeping attacks against the Houthis. A senior military official recently told CNN the intel collection required for broader strikes had been completed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the strikes with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, stressing that Houthi attacks “will not be tolerated,” according to a readout from the State Department. Last summer, Russia was prepared to deliver weapons to the Houthis but pulled back following pressure from the US and Saudi Arabia.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Lavrov “emphasized the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force” in Yemen in the phone call.
The US has been working to degrade Houthi capabilities for months as the entity worked to disrupt international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, calling the attacks a response to Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas. The group has targeted more than 100 ships and vessels, including with drones, missiles and small ships.
The Biden administration sought to respond by carrying out targeted strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, including attacking underground weapons storage facilities in October and November, but the actions did not prevent further attacks.
“This is not a one off. This is the beginning of an ongoing series of events that will last days if not weeks,” a source familiar with the strategy told CNN. “There is not and will not be an invasion or troops on ground. But there will be a series of ongoing strategic targeted attacks.”
Earlier this year, Trump signed an order designating the Houthis a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Trump, in his message, said the Biden administration’s approach to the Houthis was “pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.”
“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.
CNN’s Alayna Treene, Oren Liebermann , Sophie Tanno, Maria Kostenko and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. This story has been updated.
