Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 31 killed

Update Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 31 killed
Dust rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen March 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 16 March 2025
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Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 31 killed

Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, at least 31 killed
  • Trump also warned Iran to stop supporting the militant group, promising to hold the country “fully accountable” for the actions of its proxy
  • Biggest US military operation in Middle East since Trump took office

WASHINGTON/ADEN: US President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 24 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days.

Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!“

The unfolding strikes — which one US official told Reuters might continue for weeks — represent the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. It came as the United States ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

“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!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

At least 31 were killed and 101 others injured in the US strikes, mostly from women and children, Anees Al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said in an updated toll on Sunday.

The Houthis’ political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime.”

“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation,” it said in a statement.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a building in a Houthi stronghold.

“The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia, told Reuters.

Another strike on a power station in the town of Dahyan in Saada led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the enigmatic leader of the Houthis, often meets his visitors.

Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in Yemen’s southwestern city of Taiz, two witnesses in the area said on Sunday.

A Saudi official source cited by Al Arabiya News Channel dismissed claims being circulated on social media platforms of the kingdom providing logistical support for the operation in Yemen.  

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah condemned the large-scale military strikes by the US against Yemen, according to a statement.

The Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce and setting the US military on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that have burned through stocks of US air defenses.



A Pentagon spokesperson said the Houthis have attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023. The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas militants.

Iran’s other allies, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been severely weakened by Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict. Syria’s Bashar Assad, who was closely aligned with Tehran, was overthrown by rebels in December.

But throughout, Yemen’s Houthis have remained resilient and often on the offensive, sinking two vessels, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.

 

The US administration of then-President Joe Biden had sought to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack vessels off its coast but limited the US actions.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Trump has authorized a more aggressive approach.

Strikes across Yemen

The strikes on Saturday were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea, officials said.

The US military’s Central Command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, described Saturday’s strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.

“Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “Freedom of Navigation will be restored.”

Trump held out the prospect of far more devastating military action against Yemen.

“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” Trump wrote.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had “no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy.”

“End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism. Stop killing of Yemeni people,” he said in an X post on early Sunday.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.

The US attacks came just days after a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Trump was delivered, seeking talks over Iran’s nuclear program.

Khamenei on Wednesday rejected holding negotiations with the United States.

Still, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials told Reuters.

Last year, Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks, reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to US officials.

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is dramatically accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, the UN nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has warned.

Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

In an apparent sign of US efforts to improve ties with Russia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to inform him about the US strikes in Yemen, the State Department said. Russia has relied on Iranian-provided weaponry in its war in Ukraine, including missiles and drones, US and Ukrainian officials say.


Sudan army chief rules out any compromise with RSF paramilitaries

Sudan army chief rules out any compromise with RSF paramilitaries
Updated 14 August 2025
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Sudan army chief rules out any compromise with RSF paramilitaries

Sudan army chief rules out any compromise with RSF paramilitaries
  • Sudan’s war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million
  • So far, mediation efforts led by Washington and Riyadh have failed to secure a ceasefire in Sudan

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army chief on Thursday vowed there would be no compromise with paramilitary forces who have been at war with the regular army for more than two years amid a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Speaking on the centenary of the Sudanese armed forces, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan renewed his commitment to the “battle for dignity, to defeat the rebellion, and to make neither compromise nor reconciliation, whatever the cost.”

The remarks come just days after a confidential meeting in Switzerland between Burhan and US Africa envoy Massad Boulos.

According to two Sudanese government sources, the pair discussed a new US peace plan. So far, mediation efforts led by Washington and Riyadh have failed to secure a ceasefire.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have attempted to establish a parallel administration in western Sudan, on territory under their control.

The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the move on Wednesday, calling it “a direct threat to Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity.”

Sudan’s war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and plunged the nation into the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis.

The European Union on Thursday called on all parties in the civil war in Sudan to “urgently” allow the entry of international aid, as the country weathers its worst outbreak of cholera in years.

“Civilians must be protected, and humanitarian access must be granted,” the EU said in a joint statement also signed by countries including Britain, Canada and Japan.


Gaza civil defense says 17 killed in Israel strikes

Gaza civil defense says 17 killed in Israel strikes
Updated 14 August 2025
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Gaza civil defense says 17 killed in Israel strikes

Gaza civil defense says 17 killed in Israel strikes
  • The dead included six civilians who had been waiting for humanitarian aid

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 17 people were killed Thursday in Israeli strikes as the military intensified its bombardment of Gaza City.

The dead included six civilians who had been waiting for humanitarian aid, said civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

“The Israeli occupation forces are intensifying their raids in the Zeitun area” of Gaza City, he said.

The Israeli military has yet to comment.

“For the fourth consecutive day, the area has been subject to a military operation, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries,” said Bassal.

“Since dawn today, we have received 28 calls from families and residents of this neighborhood, some of whose children have been killed.

“Many people cannot leave these areas due to artillery fire,” the spokesperson added.

Maram Kashko, a resident of Zeitun, said the strikes had increased over the past four days.

“My nephew, his wife and their children were killed in a bombardment,” he told AFP.

An AFP videographer said their bodies were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City and buried shortly afterwards at the Sayyid Hashim cemetery.

On Wednesday, the head of the Israeli military said he had approved a new plan for operations in the Gaza Strip aimed at freeing all hostages and defeating Hamas.

The military intends to take control of Gaza City and neighboring refugee camps, some of the most densely populated areas in the Palestinian territory, which has been devastated by more than 22 months of war.

Over the past three days, Zeitun has been the target of repeated air strikes, according to multiple sources, including the military.

Adding to the dire humanitarian situation, Gaza has been experiencing a spell of extreme heat, which is particularly difficult for displaced residents living in tents and makeshift shelters.

“The heat is unbearable. We live in a nylon tent — it’s like an oven. We cannot stay inside during the day, there is no ventilation,” said Umm Khaled Abu Jazar, 40, displaced in the Al-Mawasi camp.

“My children have developed skin rashes. Even the water we drink is hot from the sun. There is nothing to cool us down. The heat only adds to our daily suffering,” the mother of five told AFP.


Jordanian, Emirati army chiefs discuss expanding military cooperation

Jordanian, Emirati army chiefs discuss expanding military cooperation
Updated 14 August 2025
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Jordanian, Emirati army chiefs discuss expanding military cooperation

Jordanian, Emirati army chiefs discuss expanding military cooperation
  • Meeting highlights cooperation between armies in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza through airdrops
  • Jordanian forces praised for role in maintaining regional stability

LONDON: Jordan and the UAE discussed expanding joint military cooperation and efforts in regional security during a meeting of army forces chiefs in Amman on Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Yousef Ahmed Al-Hunaiti, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Maj. Gen. Awad Saeed Al-Ahbabi, the commander of the Joint Operations Command in the UAE, discussed strategies to enhance coordination, share expertise, and improve readiness in various defense sectors.

Al-Hunaiti highlighted the ongoing cooperation between the Jordanian and Emirati armies in providing humanitarian and relief aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip through airdrop operations. He added that the partnership with the UAE enhanced forces’ integration and preparedness for challenges.

Al-Ahbabi, the Emirati commander, praised Jordanian forces for their role in maintaining regional stability, and emphasized the significance of enhancing the joint strategic partnership between Abu Dhabi and Amman.

Senior officials from Jordan attended the meeting, including Hamad Al-Matrooshi, acting UAE ambassador, and the UAE’s military attache based in Amman, the Jordan News Agency said.


Malnourished children arrive daily at Gaza hospital as Netanyahu denies hunger

Malnourished children arrive daily at Gaza hospital as Netanyahu denies hunger
Updated 14 August 2025
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Malnourished children arrive daily at Gaza hospital as Netanyahu denies hunger

Malnourished children arrive daily at Gaza hospital as Netanyahu denies hunger
  • Doctors in Gaza say children like 2 1/2-year-old Ro’a Mashi died because her family struggled to find her enough food
  • The Gaza Health Ministry says 42 children died of malnutrition-related causes since July 1

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: The dead body of 2 1/2-year-old Ro’a Mashi lay on the table in Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, her arms and rib cage skeletal, her eyes sunken in her skull. Doctors say she had no preexisting conditions and wasted away over months as her family struggled to find food and treatment.

Her family showed The Associated Press a photo of Ro’a’s body at the hospital, and it was confirmed by the doctor who received her remains. Several days after she died, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told local media, “There is no hunger. There was no hunger. There was a shortage, and there was certainly no policy of starvation.”

In the face of international outcry, Netanyahu has pushed back, saying reports of starvation are “lies” promoted by Hamas.

However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric this week warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.

The UN says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found to have acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount.

The past two weeks, Israel has allowed around triple the amount of food into Gaza than had been entering since late May. That followed 2 1/2 months when Israel barred all food, medicine and other supplies, saying it was to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken during its 2023 attack that launched the war. The new influx has brought more food within reach for some of the population and lowered some prices in marketplaces, though it remains far more expensive than prewar levels and unaffordable for many.

While better food access might help much of Gaza’s population, “it won’t help the children who are severely malnourished,” said Alex DeWaal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, who has worked on famine and humanitarian issues for more than 40 years.

When a person is severely malnourished, vital micronutrients are depleted and bodily functions deteriorate. Simply feeding the person can cause harm, known as “refeeding syndrome,” potentially leading to seizures, coma or death. Instead, micronutrients must first be replenished with supplements and therapeutic milk in a hospital.

“We’re talking about thousands of kids who need to be in hospital if they’re going to have a chance of survival,” DeWaal said. “If this approach of increasing the food supply had been undertaken two months ago, probably many of those kids would not have gotten into this situation.”

Any improvement is also threatened by a planned new Israeli offensive that Netanyahu says will capture Gaza City and the tent camps where most of the territory’s population is located. That will prompt a huge new wave of displacement and disrupt food delivery, UN and aid officials warn.



Preexisting conditions

The Gaza Health Ministry says 42 children died of malnutrition-related causes since July 1, along with 129 adults. It says 106 children have died of malnutrition during the entire war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and its figures on casualties are seen by the UN and other experts as the most reliable.

The Israeli military Tuesday pointed to the fact that some children who died had preexisting conditions, arguing their deaths were “unrelated to their nutritional status.” It said a review by its experts had concluded there are “no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon” in Gaza.

At his press briefing Sunday, Netanyahu spoke in front of a screen reading “Fake Starving Children” over photos of skeletal children with preexisting conditions. He accused Hamas of starving the remaining Israeli hostages and repeated claims the militant group is diverting large amounts of aid, a claim the UN denies.

Doctors in Gaza acknowledge that some of those dying or starving have chronic conditions, including cerebral palsy, rickets or genetic disorders, some of which make children more vulnerable to malnutrition. However, those conditions are manageable when food and proper medical treatments are available, they say.

“The worsening shortages of food led to these cases’ swift deterioration,” said Dr. Yasser Abu Ghali, head of Nasser’s pediatrics unit. “Malnutrition was the main factor in their deaths.”

Of 13 emaciated children whose cases the AP has seen since late July, five had no preexisting conditions — including three who died — according to doctors.

Abu Ghali spoke next to the body of Jamal Al-Najjar, a 5-year-old who died Tuesday of malnutrition and was born with rickets, which hinders the ability to metabolize vitamins, weakening bones.

In the past months, the boy’s weight fell from 16 kilograms to 7 (35 pounds to 15), said his father, Fadi Al-Najjar, whose lean face showed his own hunger.

Asked about Netanyahu’s claim there was no hunger in Gaza, he pointed at Jamal’s protruding rib cage. “Of course there’s famine,” he said. “Does a 5-year-old child’s chest normally come to look like this?”

 

Skin and bones

Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, Nasser’s general director of pediatrics, said the facility receives 10-20 children with severe malnutrition a day, and the numbers are rising.

On Sunday, a severely malnourished 2-year-old, Shamm Qudeih, cried in pain in her hospital bed. Her arms, legs and ribs were skeletal, her belly inflated.

“She has lost all fat and muscle,” Al-Farra said. She weighed 4 kilograms (9 pounds), a third of a 2-year-old’s normal weight.

Doctors suspect Shamm suffers from a rare genetic condition called glycogen storage disease, which changes how the body uses and stores glycogen, a form of sugar, and can impact muscle and bone development. But they can’t test for it in Gaza, Al-Farra said.

Normally, the condition can be managed through a high-carbohydrate diet.

Her family applied a year ago for medical evacuation, joining a list of thousands the WHO says need urgent treatment abroad. For months, Israel slowed evacuations to a near standstill or halted them for long stretches. But it appears to be stepping up permissions, with more than 60 allowed to leave in the first week of August, according to the UN

Permission for Shamm to leave Gaza finally came this week, and on Wednesday, she was heading to a hospital in Italy.

 

A child died in her family’s tent

Ro’a was one of four dead children who suffered from malnutrition brought to Nasser over the course of just over two weeks, doctors say.

Her mother, Fatma Mashi, said she first noticed Ro’a losing weight last year, but she thought it was because she was teething. When she took Ro’a to Nasser Hospital in October, the child was severely malnourished, according to Al-Farra, who said Ro’a had no preexisting conditions.

At the time, in the last months of 2024, Israel had reduced aid entry to some of the lowest levels of the war.

The family was also displaced multiple times by Israeli military operations. Each move interrupted Ro’a’s treatment as it took time to find a clinic to get nutritional supplements, Mashi said. The family was reduced to one meal a day — often boiled macaroni — but “whatever she ate, it didn’t change anything in her,” Mashi said.

Two weeks ago, they moved into the tent camps of Muwasi on Gaza’s southern coast. Ro’a’s decline accelerated.

“I could tell it was only a matter of two or three more days,” Mashi said in the family’s tent Friday, the day after she had died.

Mashi and her husband Amin both looked gaunt, their cheeks and eyes hollow. Their five surviving children – including a baby born this year — are thin, but not nearly as emaciated as Ro’a.

DeWaal said it’s not unusual in famines for one family member to be far worse than others. “Most often it will be a kid who is 18 months or 2 years” who is most vulnerable, he said, while older siblings are “more robust.”

But any number of things can set one child into a spiral of malnutrition, such as an infection or troubles after weaning.

“A very small thing can push them over.”


Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era militant suspected of mutilating bodies

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era militant suspected of mutilating bodies
Updated 14 August 2025
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Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era militant suspected of mutilating bodies

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era militant suspected of mutilating bodies
  • Ruslan was part of a militia linked to the former Assad regime and was reportedly involved in operations against Syrian rebel forces
  • He is accused of participating in serious abuses against Syrians during the country's civil conflict

LONDON: Authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic arrested a suspect for grave violations associated with the defunct Assad regime against civilians during the country’s civil war.

Security forces in the coastal governorate of Latakia have arrested Naser Hani Ruslan, who is accused of participating in serious abuses against Syrians, the Interior Ministry announced.

The ministry added that Ruslan was part of a militia linked to the former Assad regime and was reportedly involved in operations against areas controlled by Syrian rebel forces, including the mutilation of bodies.

Authorities have begun investigations against Ruslan, who is awaiting trial. Following the fall of the Assad regime last December, the new government in Damascus has arrested several suspects, including army officers, for crimes committed against Syrians during the country’s civil conflict.