Suspected US airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen overnight into Thursday killed at least three people, while the death toll from an earlier attack rose to 13 dead. Yemeni rebels said they shot down a £25m Reaper attack drone during the onslaught, which has increased in recent weeks and indicates a possible US attack on Iran in the coming weeks.
The death toll of Tuesday’s attack on the Houthis makes it one of the deadliest on the Yemeni rebels in the current campaign. It comes amid warnings from US President Donald Trump that Tehran faces ‘great danger’ if de-nuclearisation talks were unsuccessful. And it is just weeks since the US moved six of its prized B-2 Strategic Stealth bombers to the secretive Indo-Pacific island base of Diego Garcia, possibly to prepare for a major attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
Hours after the surprise announcement of the Washington-Tehran talks, Iran’s foreign minister said the conversation in Oman would be “indirect” but could be “as much an opportunity as… a test.” Trump – who pulled the US out a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term – said discussions would be at “very high level,” as he delivered his warning to Tehran.
The attacks on Yemeni Houthis, who have fired on western shipping and Israel in support of Hamas have significantly escalated since US President Donald Trump took power. Since its start, the intense campaign of U.S. airstrikes targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters has killed over 100 people.
Footage aired by the rebels’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed chaotic scenes of people carrying wounded to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential neighbourhood, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill rebel leaders.
The Houthis also aired footage of the burning wreckage of what they described as an MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down in Yemen’s al-Jawaf governorate. One man poked at the debris with a stick as those gathered chanted the Houthis’ slogan: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
General Atomics Reapers, which cost around £25m million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet and remain in the air for over 30 hours. They have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA for years over Afghanistan, Iraq and now Yemen.
The Houthis claim they’ve shot down 22 MQ-9s over the country over the years, with 18 downed during the rebels’ campaign over the Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. military has not acknowledged the total number of drones it has lost there.
Central Command said it was aware of the report of the shoot down, but declined to answer further. The Houthis say they shoot down the drones with locally made missiles. They are known to have surface-to-air missiles – such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 – capable of downing aircraft.
The Houthis insist the majority of those killed in air-strikes earlier this week were women and children, without providing a breakdown of the victims. The State Department said the U.S: “…will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports.”
Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield. It is believed US war-planners are trying to wipe out the Houthis, in preparation for a possible move against Iran.
It is possible America may be gearing up to attack Iran, possibly along with Israeli warplanes, having moved six B-2 bombers to a US-British military base in the Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia. The US only has 20 B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers so it uses them sparingly- nevertheless they moved into the region in March amid mounting tension with Tehran.
It puts the B-2s, which have stealth technology and are equipped to carry the heaviest US bombs and nuclear weapons, in an ideal position to operate in the Middle East. Asked if the B-2s were meant to send a message to Iran, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “We’ll let them decide.”
The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The U.S. campaign shows no signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has linked its airstrikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as well.
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