At least 31 dead in US strikes on Yemen, as Trump threatens Iran

BarcelonaThe United States has launched a wave of attacks against the Houthis in Yemen that has left at least 31 dead, according to local authorities. This is the most significant armed action since the start of Trump's second term, launching a large-scale air and sea offensive against the allies of Iran and Hamas.

The attack, which Trump announced on his Truth Social network, began Saturday night and continued this morning. So far, there have been about 40 bombings, mostly in the north of the capital, Sanaa. The deadliest was in the Kahza district, where US fighter jets bombed two residential buildings, killing at least 15 people, local media report. There have been at least eight bombings in the capital.

The Houthi political bureau has denounced that children are among the victims and has called the attacks war crimes against civilians. They have reaffirmed their support for the Palestinian people. The Yemeni group has carried out around 100 attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, which have had a significant impact on global maritime trade. The Biden administration had also attacked Houthi positions, with support from the UK, but had failed to restore stability to the region..

"Today I ordered the United States military to begin decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen," Trump said in a message to Truth Social. "They have waged a relentless campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American and other ships, aircraft, and drones." "Your time is up. And your attacks must end immediately. If not, you will experience hell like you've never seen before," he added, threatening to use "overwhelming lethal force."

In the post, the US president also threatens Iran, which supports the Houthis in their regional dispute with US ally Saudi Arabia. It is unclear how this new offensive will affect Iran, with whom Trump wants to negotiate an agreement to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons, under the threat of a military attack if the ayatollahs' regime rejects the negotiation. In the post, Trump warns: "On Iran: Support for Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American people; their President, who has been given one of the largest terms in presidential history, or the world's shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because the United States will hold you fully responsible."

According to information published on the New York Times, The US attacks have reportedly hit an arsenal, but they are only the first of a larger wave. This week, the Houthis announced they would resume attacks on Israeli ships in protest of the blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu's government two weeks ago. The actions had halted on January 19, when the ceasefire in Gaza agreed between Israel and Hamas went into effect. Sources cited by the newspaper itself suggest that the US offensive could last for days, with the aim of destroying the Houthis' arsenals, which are underground, as well as many of their weapons manufacturing facilities.

Born in the 1990s, the Houthis (also called Ansar Allah or Followers of God) are a Zaidi Islamist movement, the Shia minority in Yemen. They emerged as a response to the corruption of Ali Abudullah Saleh's regime, which turned the country into one of the poorest on the planet and the poorest in the Arab world. Yemen experienced the revolutionary wave that shook the Arab world in 2011, and the Houthis eventually seized the capital, Sana'a, in September 2014, forcing people to flee to the southern city of Aden.