President Donald Trump has ordered ‘decisive and powerful’ military action against Houthi terrorists in Yemen – as an air strike has hit the capital of Sanaa.
The US President confirmed in a post on Truth Social that he had ordered the military to launch a series of air strikes, promising to use ‘overwhelming lethal force’ until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.
‘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.’
He also warned Iran to stop supporting the rebel group, promising to hold the country ‘fully accountable’ for the actions of its proxy.
The United States, Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
Footage shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows several airstrikes hitting areas near Sanaa International Airport, with reports of a number of explosions heard.
The images show black smoke billowing into the sky over the area of the Sanaa airport complex, which includes a sprawling military facility.
According to reports, at least nine people have died, and another nine have been injured as a result of the strikes.
It is claimed that sites near to Sanaa International Airport have been targeted by airstrikes
Images shared online show a thick column of smoke billowing into the sky
Dust rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen, pictured on Saturday (March 15) evening
The images show black smoke billowing into the sky over the area of the Sanaa airport complex, which includes a sprawling military facility
President Donald Trump has ordered ‘decisive and powerful’ military action against Houthi terrorists in Yemen
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’.
It comes after Houthi fighters files 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 is only 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.
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.
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
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 Huthis 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.
