A correspondent for Yemen’s Al Masirah TV has reported that US airstrikes on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa struck three homes on Sunday night, killing at least eight people, including women and children.
Details of the US attack are still emerging, and other US strikes were reported in the northern Yemeni provinces of Saada and Amran. Early Monday, Al Masirah reported that US strikes on Saada hit a detention center for African migrants and said there were dozens of casualties.
Earlier on Sunday, Yemen’s SABA news agency reported that two people were killed by overnight US strikes on another home in Sanaa. At least nine Yemenis were wounded by the strikes, including two women and three children.
Also on Sunday, the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, fired a missile at Israel, as the constant US bombing campaign has failed to deter the Yemeni group. The Israeli military said the “missile was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory.”
US officials have confirmed that the Houthis have shot down seven US MQ-9 Reaper drones in recent weeks, which, according to a report from CNN, has hampered the US’s ability to target senior Houthi leadership as part of “phase two” of its bombing campaign.
US officials told CNN that despite the massive US airstrikes on Yemen, the Houthis are only getting better at targeting US MQ-9 drones, which are worth about $30 million a piece.
US Central Command said on Sunday that its forces have hit 800 targets in Yemen since March 15 and claimed the strikes have killed “hundreds of Houthi fighters.” The US bombing campaign has taken a huge toll on civilians, with at least 158 killed from March 15 to April 22, according to the Yemen Data Project.
The US military has shared virtually no details about its bombing campaign, which CENTCOM acknowledged, claiming that it has “intentionally limited disclosing details” of the airstrikes to “preserve operational security.”
The Houthis are known for their resilience, having survived a brutal US-backed Saudi/UAE-led war against them from 2015 to 2022, which killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis. During that time, the Houthis became a more capable fighting force and increased their missile and drone capabilities to hit oil infrastructure deep inside Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have maintained they won’t end attacks on Israel or their blockade on Israeli-linked shipping unless there’s a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. A senior member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau has said the Houthis would stop attacks on US warships if the US stopped bombing Yemen, but there’s no sign the US is considering the offer.
