Exposing the Pentagon’s 2019 bombing campaign against Yemen.
339 Munitions Dropped on Yemen in the
First 80 Days of the Bombing Campaign
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
(April 4, 2024) — At least 148 missile strikes have hit Yemen since the US and the UK launched a new bombing campaign against the Houthis in January, according to the Yemen Data Project (YDP).
YDP said in the first 80 days of the US-led bombing campaign that started on January 12, a total of 339 munitions have hit Yemen, averaging more than four per day. The UK has joined the US in several rounds of missile strikes, but most have been unilateral US attacks on Houthi-controlled Yemen.
YDP said there was a drop in strikes in March, with 35 recorded, compared with 79 in February. The group said there were no reports of civilian casualties in March after 11 were recorded in February.
Graph of the timeline of the strikes from the Yemen Data Project
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in March that a total of 34 Houthi fighters had been killed since the Yemeni group, officially known as Ansar Allah, began targeting Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea last year in response to the onslaught in Gaza.
The US-British bombing campaign has done nothing to deter the Red Sea attacks and has only escalated the situation as the Houthis began targeting American and British shipping in response. In January, President Biden acknowledged the bombing wasn’t “working” but vowed to continue anyway.
The Houthis have been clear that the only way they would stop targeting Israel-linked shipping is if the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza comes to an end. But the US chose escalation instead of pressuring the Israelis to stop by leveraging military aid.
The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 that involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the group only became more of a capable fighting force during that time.
The war killed at least 377,000 people, and more than half died of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are now blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.
The Houthis have always said they will stop attacking Israel-linked ships once attacks on Gaza end.
US Envoy Suggests Diplomacy With The Houthis
Given That The Bombing Campaign Has Failed
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
(April 4, 2024) —Tim Lenderking, President Biden’s envoy for Yemen, said the US wants a “diplomatic solution” with the Houthis as its bombing campaign has failed to deter the Yemeni group and has only escalated the situation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
“My hope is that we can find diplomatic off-ramps,” Lenderking said on Wednesday. He suggested the US could reverse its recent decision to re-designate the Houthis as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” which imposed new sanctions that are blocking a peace deal between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
Lenderking said the US is looking to “find ways to de-escalate and allow us to pull back, eventually, the designation and, of course, to end the military strikes on Houthis’ military capability.”
The Houthis have been clear that they would only stop their attacks on Israel-linked shipping if Israel ends its genocidal campaign in Gaza. Lenderking haspreviously acknowledged that he believes the Houthis would be true to their word and would stop the Red Sea attacks if there was a ceasefire in Gaza.
Since President Biden launched his new unauthorized war against the Houthis on January 12, the US and the UK have bombed Yemen at least 148 times,according to the Yemen Data Project. Despite the failure of the campaign, the US continues to launch missile strikes on Houthi-controlled Yemen.
US Central Command said on Wednesday that US forces in the Red Sea intercepted a Houthi missile and two drones. It also claimed that CENTCOM forces “destroyed a mobile surface-to-air missile system in Houthi-controlled territory.”
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and govern an area of Yemen where 70-80% of Yemenis live. The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war that failed to oust them, which killed at least 377,000 people.
