...

Logo Yotel Air CDG
in partnership with
Logo Nextory

US and Iran-backed Houthis both vow escalations

• Mar 17, 2025, 7:44 AM
5 min de lecture
1

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday.

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. The attacks stopped when a Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in January — a day before Trump took office — but last week the Houthis said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

The U.S. airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He didn't identify them or give evidence. Rubio said some Houthi facilities had been destroyed.

In a speech aired Sunday night, the rebels’ secretive leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned: “We will confront escalation with escalation.”

“We will respond to the American enemy in its raids, in its attacks, with missile strikes, by targeting its aircraft carrier, its warships, its ships,” al-Houthi said. “However, we also still have escalation options. If it continues its aggression, we will move to additional escalation options.”

He did not elaborate. The Houthis have targeted U.S. warships and shot down American drones flying over Yemen.

The rebels on Sunday claimed to have targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group with missiles and a drone.

According to a U.S. official, the Houthis did fire drones and at least one missile in response to the U.S. attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide updated information on operations, said that beginning at about midnight local time in Yemen, the Houthis fired 11 drones and at least one missile over about 12 hours. Ten of the drones were intercepted by U.S. Air Force fighter jets and one was intercepted by a Navy F/A-18 fighter jet. The missile fell into the water far from the ship, and nothing came close to hitting either the carrier or the warships in its strike group.

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities,” while warning of the “grave risks” to the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Rubio said that over the past 18 months the Houthis had attacked the U.S. Navy “directly” 174 times and targeted commercial shipping 145 times using “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The attacks sparked the most serious combat the U.S. Navy had seen since World War II.

On Sunday, the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis' attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the U.S. to halt its airstrikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran's foreign policy.

The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the rebels. The U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said was bound for the Houthis.

The United States, Israel and Britain previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was conducted solely by the U.S. It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which includes the carrier, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, is in the Red Sea and was part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.


Today

Pics of the day: March 17, 2025
• 4:24 PM
1 min
Africanews focuses on the most striking images of the day's news.View on euronews
Read the article
DRC: Goma faces unprecedented financial crisis
• 4:07 PM
1 min
Two months after the M23 captured the city, Goma is facing an unprecedented financial crisis.<div class="small-12 column text-center article__button"><a href="https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/17/drc-goma-faces-unprecedented-financial-crisis/?utm_source=
Read the article
Former banker Tidjane Thiam steps up bid for Ivorian presidency
• 3:47 PM
1 min
A coalition of around twenty opposition parties has backed Thiam as its candidate. With the opposition divided, Thiam has emerged as the leading figure to take on the ruling RHDP party which is yet to name its candidate<div class="small-12 column text-cen
Read the article
Crucial peace talks in Luanda set to shape Eastern Congo’s future
• 11:44 AM
5 min
A crucial week lies ahead for the Eastern Congo issue. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the M23 armed group have been invited for talks on Tuesday, March 18, in Luanda, Angola.<div class="small-12 column text-center article__button"><a href="htt
Read the article
USAID shutdown: A wake-up call for Africa or a looming crisis? (Africanews Debates)
• 11:23 AM
1 min
In this episode of the Africanews debates, our expert panel dives into the real impact of USAID’s potential exit.<div class="small-12 column text-center article__button"><a href="https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/17/usaid-shutdown-a-wake-up-call-for-afri
Read the article
DRC: Violations against children surge in South Kivu - UNICEF
• 9:50 AM
1 min
Verified cases have surged since January 2025, marking an approximately 150 percent increase compared to December 2024. These violations include sexual violence, killings, maiming, and conscription by armed groups<div class="small-12 column text-center ar
Read the article
US and Iran-backed Houthis both vow escalations
• 7:44 AM
5 min
The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.<div class="small-12
Read the article
US deports hundreds of immigrants despite court order barring the move
• 6:18 AM
7 min
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th-century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday.
Read the article
Rwanda cuts ties with Belgium, orders diplomats to leave
• 12:22 AM
1 min
Rwanda said Monday it had given Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country after cutting ties with Brussels. Belgium recently froze aid and suspended trade agreements over Kigali's aggression in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo<div class="sma
Read the article