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The Pentagon said the U.S. has struck more than 800 Houthi rebel targets over the past six weeks, even as questions swirled Monday about the effectiveness of the Trump administration’s military campaign in Yemen.
In a detailed statement, U.S. Central Command said the unrelenting airstrikes have significantly curtailed Houthi attacks against commercial and military ships in and around the Red Sea. CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said the strikes have reduced Houthi missile launches by 69% and attacks from Houthi one-way attack drones by 55%.
U.S. officials did not specifically mention any attacks over the weekend, but the Houthis said early Monday that a U.S. airstrike in Yemen’s Saada governorate hit a prison holding African migrants, killing at least 68 people and wounding 47 others.
That would make it one of the deadliest strikes so far by the U.S. against the Houthi rebels. Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed what appeared to be dead bodies and people wounded at the site.
The campaign against the Houthis, which began March 15, is the most significant military action by U.S. forces abroad since President Trump took office in January. Its ferocity is somewhat surprising, given Mr. Trump’s long-standing position that the U.S. must reduce its military footprint in the Middle East and avoid getting dragged into “forever wars.”
CENTCOM said the strikes are making an impact.
“The strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “These storage facilities housed advanced conventional weapons, including anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems, and uncrewed surface vessels, which were employed in Houthi terrorist attacks on international shipping lanes.”
Hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders have been killed in the attacks, U.S. officials said.
The Navy said in a statement Monday that an F/A-18E Super Hornet had been lost, but not in action.
The fighter jet was lost in the Red Sea after going overboard during an apparent mishap on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, Navy officials said. One sailor sustained minor injuries.
CENTCOM presented the information a day after the Houthis reportedly issued new threats to any vessel traveling through the Red Sea and connected to the delivery of arms to Israel.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is the ostensible reason for the Houthis’ repeated targeting of commercial ships in the region over the past 18 months. However, the group has often targeted vessels with no connection to Israel.
Seatrade Maritime News reported that an email from a Houthi-linked group to ship owners and managers suggested that dealing with any of the defense firms on the Houthis’ so-called sanctions list — including major defense companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing — would be cause for a potential attack.
“The existence of any such relationship will expose your company and fleet to sanctions, and, in the event your company is listed on the sanctions list, its fleet will be prohibited from transiting the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean,” that email said.
With such threats, some analysts said the massive U.S. air campaign still hasn’t broken the group’s back.
“The escalation against the Houthis has yielded mixed results to date. According to regional diplomats and U.S. officials, the multiple precision strikes each day, targeting a wide range of Houthi-controlled installations, have degraded the movement’s arsenal of Iran-supplied missiles, armed drones, and unmanned surface vessels,” The Soufan Center, a New York-based research organization, said in a public intelligence brief Monday.
“However, the U.S. effort has not, to date, caused the movement to capitulate and announce an unconditional halt to its attacks on commercial shipping or U.S. and allied naval vessels in the Red Sea, or on Israel,” the brief said.
The U.S. was negotiating with Iran over a potential deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Iran is the main military and financial backer of the Houthis. The rebel group is a key part of Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” proxy network across the Middle East, which also includes Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran’s support for such groups does not appear to be on the table in the ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. In its statement, CENTCOM stressed that Tehran still backs the Houthis.
“Iran undoubtedly continues to provide support to the Houthis. The Houthis can only continue to attack our forces with the backing of the Iranian regime,” said the statement, referring to repeated Houthi attacks on U.S. military assets in the region.
Over the past six weeks, the Defense Department has been tight-lipped about the details of its strikes against the Houthis. The Houthis said they had shot down seven MQ-9 Predator drones during that period, including three during a one-week stretch this month.
CENTCOM earlier this month struck Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port. U.S. officials said the strike would pay dividends in the long run by undercutting a key income source for the Houthis.
The Trump administration took additional steps Monday to cut off funding to the Houthis. The Treasury Department said it had sanctioned the owners of three ships that deliver fuel to the Houthis. That fuel is then sold on the black market.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces considerable criticism for allegedly discussing information about the Yemen strikes in group chats on the messaging app Signal. The Pentagon denies that any classified information was contained in those chats.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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