Donald Trump warns Houthi terrorists that 'hell will rain down on you' as US launches air strikes against Iran-backed militants in Yemen
By Gemma Parry and Francine Wolfisz
Daily Mail
Mar 15, 2025
President Donald Trump has warned Houthi terrorists to cease their attacks against Red Sea shipping or 'hell will rain down upon you'
President Donald Trump has warned Houthi terrorists to cease their attacks against Red Sea shipping or 'hell will rain down upon you' - while also cautioning Iran to cease their support, as the US launched a series of military strikes over Yemen.
Trump ordered the 'decisive and powerful' military action over the capital of Sanaa on Saturday afternoon.
At least 13 civilians have been killed and nine injured so far, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
The US President confirmed in a post on Truth Social that 'overwhelming lethal force' would be used until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.
A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said the military action could last days or perhaps weeks.
It comes just hours after one of Islamic State's top leaders in Iraq was 'relentlessly hunted down' and killed in a US-led airstrike on Friday.
Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, was considered one of the 'most dangerous terrorists in the world', according to Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
On Saturday, in a determined post about the latest strikes, Trump wrote: 'To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP....'
Smoke rises from a location reportedly struck by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen on Saturday
Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis' main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support to the group.
He said if Iran threatened the United States 'America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!'
The action represents the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January.
It comes in the midst of a ramping up of sanctions pressure on Tehran while the US tries to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
Trump wrote in his statement: 'Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists' bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom', he wrote.
'No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.'
The United States, Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
The Houthis reported explosions in their territory Saturday evening, in a residential neighborhood in Sanaa's northern district of Shouab, and in the northern province of Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.
President Trump said that 'overwhelming lethal force' would be used until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor
Images show aircraft launching from a US carrier moments after Trump ordered airstrikes over Sanaa, Yemen
Analysts suggest the US military action could last days or even weeks in a bid to deter the Houthi rebels
On Saturday, in a determined post about the latest strikes, Trump wrote: 'To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP....'
The Eastern Geraf is home to Houthi-held military facilities and a headquarters for the rebels' political bureau, located in a densely populated area.
The Houthis reported fresh strikes on the southwestern Dhamar province late Saturday.
They said the strikes hit the outskirts of the provincial capital, also named Dhamar, and the district of Abs.
Images online showed plumes of black smoke over the area of the Sanaa airport complex, which includes a sprawling military facility.
Residents in Sanaa reported that the strikes hit a building in a Houthi stronghold.
'The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,' said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.
According to Houthi-run AI Masirah TV, the strikes targeted a residential neighbourhood in the Shu'aub district, which lies just north of the capital.
AI Masirah TV, also reported that the Islamic Jihad Movement condemned the strikes, calling the 'US aggression' 'blatant support for the Zionist entity and its crimes against our Palestinian people and the peoples of the region, especially in Syria and Lebanon'.
Images show black smoke billowing into the sky over the area of the Sanaa airport complex, which includes a sprawling military facility
Dust rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen, pictured on Saturday evening
In a statement the Houthis' political bureau said the attacks, which it described as a 'war crime', will not go unanswered.
'Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation,' it said in a statement.
Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, said the airstrikes won't deter them and they would retaliate against the US.
'Sanaa will remain Gaza's shield and support and will not abandon it no matter the challenges,' he added on social media.
Another spokesman, Mohamed Abdulsalam, on X, called Trump's claims that the Houthis threaten international shipping routes 'false and misleading.'
It comes after Houthi fighters fired a missile at Israel's principal airport in retaliation for the country's forces targeting a runway in Yemen earlier this week.
The rebel group responded to Thursday's strikes in Sanaa by hitting Ben Gurion Airport – which lies ten miles away from Tel Aviv.
Israeli missiles struck the Yemeni airport as the director-general of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, boarded a flight.
Smoke can be seen rising into the sky after the strikes hit what is claimed to have been a residential area near the airport
A number of explosions were reportedly heard as the strikes hit their target
Footage posted online shows a thick column of smoke billowing into the sky
According to the United Nations, three people were killed and dozens injured.
Israeli officials said the Houthi missile was intercepted, yet 18 people suffered minor injuries as they rushed to a bomb shelter and flights were delayed for half an hour.
The rebels insisted the airport was struck, adding drones also targeted Tel Aviv and a ship in the Arabian Sea.
Hamas later praised the rebels after they announced they would resume attacks on Israeli-linked shipping, calling it a demonstration of 'true commitment' to the Palestinian cause.
'It is a true commitment of support for our Palestinian people and their resistance, and it exerts real pressure to break the unjust siege on Gaza,' Hamas said in a statement.
'We call on the nations of the Arab and Muslim world, as well as all free people around the globe, to intensify their effective actions to pressure the Zionist occupation and its supporters until the aggression ends, the siege on Gaza is lifted and humanitarian aid reaches our besieged people,' Hamas added.
The Houthi said they were resuming their 'ban on the passage of all Israeli ships' in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea after Israel failed to meet a four-day deadline they had set for Gaza aid deliveries to resume.
Israel blocked all aid into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip earlier this month in an effort to pressure Hamas into agreeing an extension to the existing ceasefire in Gaza rather than moving onto a second stage.
The air strikes come after the US President announced plans to ban people from 43 countries from travelling to the US, including Yemen.
He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and 'anywhere else that threatens our security.'
The Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping since November 2023, a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.
Iran's other allies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been severely weakened by Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad, who was closely aligned with Tehran, was overthrown by rebels in December.
But throughout, Yemen's Houthis have remained resilient and on often the offensive, sinking two vessels, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
The previous US administration of President Joe Biden had sought to degrade the Houthis' ability to attack vessels off its coast but limited the U.S. actions.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Trump has authorized a more aggressive approach.
The strikes on Saturday were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea, officials said.
The US military's Central Command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, described Saturday's strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.
'Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice,' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.
'Freedom of Navigation will be restored.'
Trump held out the prospect of far more devastating military action against Yemen.
'The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,' Trump wrote.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.
The US attacks came just days after a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Trump was delivered, seeking talks over Iran's nuclear program.
Khamenei on Wednesday rejected holding negotiations with the United States.
Still, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials told Reuters.
Last year, Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks, reduced Tehran's conventional military capabilities, according to US officials.
Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is dramatically accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the UN nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency - has warned.
Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
1 comment:
These Houthi idiots simply cannot comprehend the power of the US Military. Wiping them out would be like swatting a fly.
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