Above photo: Ansar Allah leader Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi giving a televised address. Screenshot.
According to Ansar Allah, Trump falsely claimed that the aggression was launched to protect American maritime interests.
While the movement’s campaign limitedly targeted Israeli vessels over Gaza’s blockade.
At least 53 people, including a number of women and children, were killed and dozens of others injured in a series of airstrikes launched by the US on multiple locations across Yemen on Saturday, March 15, according to Yemen’s Health Ministry.
The US aggression was launched on the order of President Donald Trump, who announced via his Truth Social account on Saturday, that it aimed at “protecting US shipping, air, and naval assets and to restore navigation freedom” from Ansar Allah’s attacks.
“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,” Trump’s post reads.
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” the post continues.
The US president also accused Iran of funding Ansar Allah, whom he referred to as “the Houthi thugs”. “Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the US and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,” Trump added.
The Trump administration seems to be determined to continue its aggression in Yemen until Ansar Allah stops its maritime operations against US ships off the Yemeni coasts.
The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday, March 17 that “the US military will continue to tactically engage Iranian-backed Houthis until they stop acting aggressively against US ships in the region.”
“The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships [and] we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end but, until then, it will be unrelenting,” Hegseth warned.
Ansar Allah’s Operations In The Red Sea And The Gulf Of Aden
Shortly after Israel started its genocidal aggression on the besieged Gaza strip in October 2023, Ansar Allah started their military operations off Yemen’s western and southern coasts.
The Yemeni group launched scores of attacks on ships connected with Israel and its allies in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding an end to the genocide being inflicted on Gaza.
On January 19, 2025, Ansar Allah announced that it was halting the Red Sea operations immediately after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect earlier that day.
However, Ansar Allah resumed the ban on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden on March 11, to pressure Israel to allow aid into the Gaza Strip. By that time, Israel had imposed a full blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza for 10 days consecutively, marking a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal.
Ansar Allah Refutes Trump’s Claims And Confirms Their Operations Were Limited To Israeli Vessels
Although Trump claimed that the aggression was provoked by Ansar Allah’s alleged attacks on US shipping, air, and naval assets passing through their offshore areas of control, the Yemeni movement refuted these claims as “false and misleading”.
Ansar Allah further affirmed the attacks were “limited to Israeli shipping until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza.”
Ansar Allah’s spokesperson, Mohammad Abdulsalam, wrote on X on Saturday: “The US raids on Yemen are a blatant aggression against an independent state and encourage the Israeli enemy entity to continue its unjust siege on Gaza.”
“The US president’s claims about the threat to international navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait are false and misleading to international public opinion. The naval blockade declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited to Israeli shipping until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity. The Yemeni blockade came after a four-day grace period was granted to mediators,” Abdulsalam added.
Abdulsalam also proclaimed “international navigation in the Red Sea will remain safe from the Yemeni side, and that the US raids represent a return to the militarization of the Red Sea, which is the real threat to international navigation in the region.”
Ansar Allah Not Deterred By US Aggression And Vows Escalation
In retaliation for the US aggression, the Yemeni Armed Forces attacked the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman on Sunday, as well as its warships in the northern Red Sea, using 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone.
According to the spokesperson of Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, Yahya Sare’e, the attack on the US aircraft carrier was launched in response to the US blatant aggression that targeted different governorates across Yemen including the capital Sanaa, Saadah, Dhamar, Hajjah, and Al-Bayda.
Sare’e emphasized during a televised speech that Ansar Allah “would not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in response to the aggression against their country.”
He also reaffirmed Ansar Allah’s “commitment to maintaining the naval blockade on the Israeli enemy in the declared operation zone until aid is delivered to Gaza.”
In addition, Ansar Allah-led Supreme Political Council in Sanaa asserted in a statement on Monday, March 16, that targeting civilians in Yemen will not deter them from supporting Gaza but “will instead escalate the situation to something even stronger and more severe.”
“We reassure the steadfast Yemeni people and affirm that the aggressors will be punished in a professional and painful manner,” the statement added.
For his part Ansar Allah leader, Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, confirmed on Monday, that the movement has “escalatory options that will be more painful and disruptive” for the Americans should they “persist in their aggression.”
Sayyed Abdulmalik pointed out that the Yemeni people “will not accept targeting the Palestinian people, by the Israeli enemy with American partnership and protection.”
Regarding the attack on USS Harry Truman, the Yemeni leader affirmed that it forced the American aircraft carrier to flee to “the far north of the Red Sea, a distance of 1,300 kilometers”.