The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Israel provided the US with intelligence for the airstrike on a residential building in Yemen that was discussed and celebrated by top Trump administration officials in the Signal chat published by The Atlantic.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the chat, said a strike targeted the Houthis’ “top missile guy” after he entered a residential building where his “girlfriend” lived. He said the strike “collapsed” the building.
US officials told the Journal that Israel provided intelligence on the target from a human source inside Yemen. One US official said that Israeli officials have privately complained that information about the strike has become public.
Waltz said in the chat that the US had “multiple positive ID” of the target, who the Journal described as a “missile expert.” US officials said the US also received intelligence on the strikes from drones flying overhead, but there’s been no confirmation that the US killed its intended target, and the Trump administration has shared virtually no details about its strikes in Yemen.
According to the Yemen Data Project, the first US strike in Yemen on March 15, which appeared to be the one discussed in the Signal chat, hit the Al Jaraf neighborhood in the north of the capital, Sanaa, and killed 13 civilians.
When Waltz told the chat that the strike collapsed a residential building, Vice President JD Vance, who previously cautioned against bombing Yemen, replied, “Excellent.” Other administration officials expressed their excitement over the strike, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said, “Great works and effects!”
