President Donald Trump said he ordered a series of air attacks on the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, on Saturday, promising to use the “overwhelming lethal force” until the hutis rebels backed by Iran leave their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.
“Our brave warriors are carrying out air attacks against the foundations of terrorists, leaders and missile defenses to protect US shipping, air and naval assets, and to restore freedom of navigation,” Trump said in a publication on social networks. “No terrorist force will prevent US commercial and naval ships from sailing freely through the world of the world.”
He also warned Iran to stop supporting the rebel group, promising the country “totally responsible” for the actions of its power. There is two weeks after the American leader sent a letter to the Iranian leaders who offered a way to restart bilateral conversations between the two countries in the Iran advanced nuclear weapons program that Trump has said that he will not allow to work again.
The Houthis reported a series of explosions in their territory on Saturday night. The images that circulate online show columns of black smoke on the area of the Sanaa airport complex, which includes a wide military installation.
Air attacks occur a few days after the hutis said they would resume attacks against Israeli vessels that sail in Yemen waters in response to Israel’s blockade in Gaza. No hutis attacks have been reported since then.
Earlier this month, Israel stopped all the aid in Gaza and warned about “additional consequences” for Hamas if its high fragile fire in the war does not extend as negotiations continue to begin a second phase.
The hutis had described that their warning seized the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Arabic sea.
The Hutis attacked more than 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, during their campaign aimed at military and civil ships between the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas at the end of 2023 and January of this year, when a high fire in Gaza had an effect.
The attacks greatly increased the profile of the hutis when they faced economic problems and launched a repression aimed at any dissident and home help workers in the middle of the stagnant war of the Yemen decade that is tear in the poorest nation in the Arab world.
The United States, Israel and Great Britain have previously reached the areas controlled by Houthi in Yemen. Israel’s army declined to comment.
The Houthi Media Office said that US strikes arrived in “a residential neighborhood” in the Northern District of Sanaa de Shouab. Sanaa residents said that at least four air attacks shook the neighborhood of East Geraf in the Shouab district, terrifying women and children in the area.
“The explosions were very strong,” said Abdallah Al-Alffi. “It was like an earthquake.”
Saturday’s operation against the Hutis was carried out only by the United States, according to an American official. It was the first strike in the hutis based in Yemen under the second Trump administration, and occurs after a period of relative silence in the region.
Such wide and planned base missile strikes against the hutis were made several times by the Biden administration in response to frequent attacks of the hutis against commercial and military vessels in the region.
The USS Harry S. Truman attack group, which includes the carrier, three destroyers of the Navy and a Cruise, are in the Red Sea and were part of the mission. USS Georgia’s cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.
Trump announced the strikes when he spent the day at his Trump International Golf Club at West Palm Beach, Florida.
“These relentless assaults have cost the United States and the world economy many billions of dollars, while, at the same time, they put innocent lives at risk,” Trump said.
