A huge wave of smoke during the US attack that struck Sanaa, the capital of Houthi in Yemen, at the beginning of March 16, 2025.
Mohammed Huwais | AFP | Getty Images
The US will continue to attack until Yemeni Houtis ends its attack on transport, the US Secretary of Defense said on Sunday that a group lined up in Iran could escalate in response to a fatal US attack the day before.
The airstrike, which the Houthi-Run Health Ministry said had killed at least 53 people, is the largest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters that the campaign could last several weeks.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said on Sunday that his extremists will target our ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues to attack Yemen. “If they continue their attacks, we will continue to escalate,” he said in a TV speech.
The Political Bureau of the Houthi Movement described the attack as a “war crime” and Moscow urged Washington to stop the strike.
A Houthis military spokesman said Sunday without providing evidence, the group targeted USS Harry S. Truman, a USS aircraft airline, and its warships in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones in response to a US attack.
A US official told Reuters. The US military also tracked missiles flying off Yemen's coast and was not considered a threat, officials said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses told Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“This is to stop shootings on assets… in that important waterway, Iran has been making Houssis possible for too long to resume its central national interest, the freedom of voyage,” he said. “They're better off retreating.”
The Houtis, which has controlled much of Yemen over the past decade, said last week it would resume attacks on Israeli ships if Israel fails to lift the bloc with aid entering Gaza.
They launched numerous attacks on the transport after Israeli war with Hamas began in late 2023 and said they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Trump also told Iran, the main supporter of Houthis, to immediately stop supporting the group. He said if Iran threatened the US, “America will hold that it is totally responsible to you and we will not be good about it!”
Iran warns us not to escalate
In response, Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of Iran's revolutionary security guards, said the Houtis had made its own decision.
“We warn the enemy that if Iran implements the threat, Iran will respond decisively and destructively,” he told state media.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for “maximum control and halting all military activities” in Yemen, warning that a new escalation could “fuel from a cycle of retaliation that could make Yemen and the region even more unstable, potentially casting graves on humanitarian situations already fearing the country's humanitarian situation.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News, “The Face the Nation program.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge “an immediate halt of the use of force and the importance of all sides to engage in political dialogue,” Moscow said.
There were five and two women out of 53 children killed in a US strike, according to Anees Alsbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-Run Health Ministry. Another 98 people were injured, the ministry said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the claims of civilian victims. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.
Sanaa residents said the strike struck a neighbourhood known to host several members of Houthi's leadership.
“The explosion was violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” one of the residents said.
In Sanaa, cranes and bulldozers were used to remove debris at one site, and people used their bare hands to pick tiled rubs. The hospital treated the injured, including the child, and the bodies of several victims were placed in a garden wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.
The strike also targeted the Hooty military site in Tays city, two witnesses said Sunday.
Houthis' Red Sea Attack Disturbs World Trade Routes
Another strike at a power plant in Dahyan town led to a blackout, Al Masila's television reported earlier on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the mysterious leader of Houthis, meets visitors.
The Houthi attacks disrupt global commerce with attacks on transport and established the US military in a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.
The group suspended the campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.
However, on March 12, Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would be effective until Israel replicates aid and food delivery to Gaza.
