US says 'multiple' leaders of Iran-backed rebels dead in Yemen strikes

SANAA — A White House official on Sunday said a wave of United States air strikes on Yemen killed senior Huthi rebel leaders and sent a message to their Iranian backers.

Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, "most of whom were children and women", Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said.

US President Donald Trump said he had ordered Saturday night's strikes and threatened more if the rebels kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.

The rebels have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes "targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out."

He told Fox News: "We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough."

Huthis vowed to meet "escalation with escalation" after a wave of deadly US air strikes, with witnesses to the bombing saying Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity, even after years of war. 

An AFP photographer in Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising Saturday night.

Footage on Huthi media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.

One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP his "house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified".

"I've been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I've never experienced anything like this before," he said.

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to "use overwhelming lethal force" to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.

"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!" he said.

Trump also issued a stern warning to the group's main backer.

"To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!" he said, adding it would be held "fully accountable" for any continued threats.

The Huthis vowed the strikes "will not pass without response", while Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had "no authority" to dictate Tehran's foreign policy.

The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called Washington's "criminal brutality".

US Central Command, which posted videos of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said "precision strikes" were launched to "defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation".

'Fully prepared' 

"Yesterday's shelling in Al-Jiraf [northern Sanaa] was absolutely terrifying: six strikes in a row," 43-year-old father of three Malik told AFP.

"My children were screaming and crying in my arms. It's the first time I've ever said the Shahada," he added, referring to the prayer that is recited before death.

The Huthis' political bureau said its "forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation".

The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the "axis of resistance" of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had "attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023".

The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them "a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country's sovereignty and stability".

Iran "strongly condemned the brutal air strikes" in a statement, denouncing them as a "gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter".

The head of the country's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: "Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses."

'Political dialogue' 

The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.

After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Trump's statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a "foreign terrorist organisation", banning any US interaction with it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.

"Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated," Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.

Russia's foreign ministry said that "Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue... [to] prevent further bloodshed".

The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.

The war devastated the already impoverished nation. 

Fighting has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.