Pentagon tells Congress US killed 153 civilians in Yemen air strikes

The US killed and wounded hundreds of Yemeni civilians during its attacks on the country last year, according to an internal US Department of War assessment shared with Congress.

The US killed 153 civilians and wounded 243, the Pentagon said in a 12-page report that was sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday and reported by several news sites in the US.

US President Donald Trump ordered the American military to begin bombing the Houthis in March 2025. The attacks came in response to Houthi strikes on vessels in the Red Sea, which the group said were in solidarity with besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

The report detailed several specific strikes that the Pentagon said “more likely than not” caused civilian deaths and injuries. The report noted a 6 April attack on Sanaa that killed five civilians and wounded 25 others.

The report also noted a 17 April US attack on Hodeidah that killed at least 80 civilians. In a June report, Human Rights Watch said the attack should be investigated as a war crime.

“The US government’s decision to strike Ras Issa Port, a critical entry point for aid in Yemen, while hundreds of workers were present demonstrates a callous disregard for civilians’ lives,” Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.

A US air strike at the end of April also killed at least 68 African migrants in Yemen's northwestern province of Saada.

The report said that there are 15 incidents related to the air strikes that are under review by the Pentagon.

The Trump administration’s decision to attack the Houthis was overshadowed initially by the SignalGate leaks.

Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat that included 19 senior US officials planning the military campaign, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, United Nations ambassador Mike Waltz, and envoy Steve Witkoff.

The chat offered a rare window into the Trump administration’s planning for the attacks and deliberations, which focused on complaining about Europe and Egypt not remunerating Washington.

The Houthis endured more than 1,000 US strikes. The campaign was called off in May 2025 before Trump visited the Gulf. Middle East Eye revealed that Saudi Arabia pressed the US to end the attacks before the president’s visit.

Several regional officials told MEE that the US’s campaign did serious damage to the Houthis' military arsenal, but the impact proved fleeting. The group has resumed its attacks in the Red Sea and expanded them to target Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure.