At least 12 people have been killed and 30 more have been wounded following a U.S. strike on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, according to local health officials.
The casualty assessment is preliminary and cannot be independently verified.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-owned press outlet, also shared footage purporting to show the damage from the strikes and efforts to evacuate and treat those who were injured, with one of the clips appearing to show a toddler among the dead.
U.S. aircraft have been consistently hitting targets across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen for more than a month.
The attacks are part of a renewed effort to cripple the group’s military capabilities and dissuade them from continuing drone and missile attacks on Israel and international shipping through the region.
The Houthis, which the U.S. State Department recently re-listed as a foreign terrorist organization, began launching missiles and attack drones in fall 2023 following the outbreak of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have claimed that their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinian people and have vowed to continue their efforts as long as Israeli forces continue to fight in Gaza.
Fighting began in Gaza in response to the Hamas terrorist group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which it killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage.
Houthi attacks continued sporadically throughout late 2023 and all of 2024.
During that time, U.S. forces helped intercept attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea. By January 2024, U.S. forces began striking Houthi targets directly.
After Israel and Hamas entered into a temporary cease-fire in Gaza, the Houthis halted their drone and missile attacks, and U.S. forces held off responsive strikes.
By mid-March, the Gaza cease-fire began to falter, and the Houthis threatened to resume their attacks.
Preempting the Yemeni rebel faction, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to resume attacks on Houthi targets on March 15.
Yemen’s state-run Saba News Agency has reported additional overnight U.S. strikes targeting the Houthi-controlled Amran, Hodeida, Marib, and Saada regions.
Since the Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, they’ve exercised influence over many of the preexisting Yemeni state institutions, including the Saba News Agency.
The Houthis currently control an area of Yemen covering about 80 percent of the country’s 32 million population.
The U.S. Central Command assessed that the port has continued to supply fuel, providing the Houthis with revenue despite the recent terrorism designation.
