Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen's Houthis, at least 19 killed

(Reuters) - At least 19 were killed as U.S. President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, warning "hell will rain down" on them if they do not stop.

Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis' main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

The unfolding strikes - which one official said would last days and maybe weeks - represent the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. It came as the United States ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

At least 13 civilians were killed and nine injured in U.S. strikes on Yemen's capital Sanaa, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.

Six others, including four children and one woman, were killed and 11 were injured in a U.S. strike on the northern province of Saada, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported.

The Houthis' political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime."

"Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation," it said in a statement.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a building in a Houthi stronghold.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia, told Reuters.

The Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping since November 2023, disrupting global commerce and setting the U.S. military on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that burned through stocks of U.S. air defenses.

The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.