The U.S. is back to bombing the Houthi movement.
Candidate Donald Trump thought that bombing Yemen was «just a failed mentality» when then-President Joe Biden did it. «It’s crazy. You can solve problems over the telephone. Instead, they start dropping bombs. I see, recently, they’re dropping bombs all over Yemen. You don’t have to do that. You can talk in such a way where they respect you and they listen to you», Trump said in a May 2024 interview with podcaster Tim Pool.
Trump is now dropping bombs all over Yemen. Over the weekend, the U.S. military launched its first air raids on Yemen in months, hitting targets around the country and killing at least 53 people. Sources in the administration have told The New York Times that the attacks will continue for weeks—and that advisers are pushing for «an even more aggressive campaign» to roll back Houthi control on land, an idea Trump has so far shied away from.
«Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen», Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Saturday. And he threatened a wider war on Monday: «Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible.»
Instead of calling Biden a warmonger, as he had a year ago, Trump claimed on Sunday that Biden’s «pathetically weak» policy had allowed «unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism» against American shipping.
In fact, those attacks had already stopped earlier this year—thanks to Trump picking up the phone. The Houthi movement, one of two rival governments in Yemen, had tried to blockade the Red Sea in support of the Palestinian cause.
