Signal breach exposes flippant attitude to civilian deaths
Nearly 60 people, including children, have been killed as the United States expands its two-week bombing campaign in Yemen to include (according to a review by the Associated Press) "firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities." This comes as recently exposed Signal messages between senior US officials discussing the air-strikes demonstrated a flippant attitude towards the lives of Yemeni civilians. In one disturbing exchange concerning an apparent strike on a civilian apartment building, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz writes: "The first target—their top missile guy—we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend's building and it's now collapsed." "Excellent," comes the reply from Vice President JD Vance. The messages, which were brought to light after a journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to the officials' group chat in a staggering breach of normal security protocols, show a callous indifference to the ethical implications of bombing civilian areas. This is perhaps unsurprising for a country that provided many of the planes and trained many of the pilots involved in the Saudi-led bombing campaign that killed over 9,000 Yemenis between 2015 and 2022.
From The New Humanitairan, March 28.
US in new wave of air-strikes on Yemen
US airstrikes on the Ras Issa oil port on April 17 killed at least 71 people and wounded more than 170, according to the Houthi rebels. The US military said it targeted the facility to cut off a key source of the Houthis' fuel and revenue. The strikes were part of an intensified US bombing campaign in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel linked to the Gaza war. Most of Yemen's humanitarian supplies enter the war-torn country through the main ports of Ras Issa, Hodeidah and Salif. (TNH)
UK joins US bombing campaign in Yemen
The UK Defense Ministry has released a statement announcing that Royal Air Force jets bombed a Houthi drone manufacturing facility in Yemen. This marks the UK's first strike in coordination with the US—which bombed a migrant center filled with civilians on April 28, according to local authorities. (PRI)
Israel joins bombing campaign in Yemen
Israeli warplanes carried out air-strikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah May 5, one day after the Iranian backed Houthis fired a ballistic missile that hit Israel’s main airport. (Al Jazeera, CNN)
Trump claims Houthis have 'capitulated'
Israel targeted the international airport in Sanaa, two days after the Houthis fired missiles at Ben Gurion Airport. US President Donald Trump later announced that United States bombing campaign against the Houthis would end after they, in the president’s words, "capitulated." (PRI)
Two views on the ceasefire in Yemen
The US and Yemen's Houthi rebels both say that they have agreed to a ceasefire. While the sides differ on their framing of the Oman-brokered deal, the upshot appears to be the end of US bombing on Houthi targets in Yemen, and a stop to Houthi attacks on American ships in the Red Sea.
The announcement came shortly after two days of Israeli strikes on the airport in Sana'a, which reportedly killed seven people and injured dozens more, and is likely to worsen Yemen's humanitarian crisis by damaging civilian infrastructure and cutting off key supply routes. A Houthi official said the ceasefire did not include attacks on Israel, and it is continuing to send drones toward Tel Aviv.
US President Donald Trump's attacks on the Houthis have been increasingly frequent and intense over the past few months and have killed civilians, including a reported 68 people in a detention center for African migrants in late April. (TNH)