Under President Donald Trump, the United States has launched a renewed campaign of air strikes against Yemen’s Houthis.

On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said.

“We will use overwhelming lethal force,” Trump threatened after the attacks, adding, “hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before!”

Trump, on Truth Social, said his administration targeted the Houthis for their “piracy, violence, and terrorism,” citing their disruption of key shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Other top US officials issued similar threats against the Iran-backed Houthis.

According to the Trump administration, the US attacks targeted Houthi leaders, hitting their homes and headquarters. According to Reuters, the US attacks killed at least 53 people, including many women and children.

Since October 2023, the Houthis, allied with Palestinian resistance groups, have targeted Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping through the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal.

Although the group had halted their attacks after a Gaza ceasefire in January, they announced last week that they were reinstating a ban on Israeli-linked ships due to Israel’s renewed blockade of Gaza.

In response, Trump ordered military strikes on Houthi targets across Yemen, particularly in the Saada province, north of Sanaa. Trump also warned that Iran would face “dire” consequences for every shot fired at US ships by the Yemeni group.

However, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi struck a defiant tone, stating, “We will respond to the American enemy with missile strikes and by targeting its warships and naval vessels.”

Houthis have claimed responsibility for another attack on a US naval vessel, describing it as “retaliation” for recent American strikes on Yemen.

A Houthi spokesperson announced that fighters launched 18 missiles and a drone at the USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships, as the US military continued its operations against the group. This marks the second attack on the US Navy by the Iran-aligned Houthis within 24 hours. 

Experts see the potential for further escalation in US-Houthi tensions, pointing out that during the Yemeni civil war (2015–2022), the Houthis endured between 25,054 and 75,135 air strike sorties from Saudi Arabia.

Will the US be dragged to another war? 

“This tit-for-tat could also escalate tensions between the US and Iran, as Trump, seeking to project American power in the region, sends a tough message to Tehran,” says Mahjoob Zweiri, Professor of Contemporary History at Qatar University. It’s also an “indirect message to help Israel,” he tells TRT World.

Kaan Devecioglu, North African Studies Coordinator at the Ankara-based think tank ORSAM, adds: “The Houthis will likely continue to carry out asymmetric attacks against American and allied targets in response to US air strikes. Recently, the Houthis have intensified their drone and missile attacks, particularly targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea and US military assets.”

Global shipping in the Red Sea accounts for 12% of worldwide trade, with an estimated $1 trillion in goods passing through the Bab el Mandeb Strait annually, near the Houthi-controlled western Yemen coast.

“These attacks are not merely military retaliations but also aim to disrupt global trade routes as a strategic pressure tool,” Devecioglu tells TRT World. “In response to US strikes, the Houthis may seek increased logistical and military support from Iran, further deepening the dynamics of the proxy war in the region.”

While the Trump administration aims to reinforce Israel’s position in the Middle East by attacking anti-Israeli forces like the Houthis, “this will not have an immediate impact,” Zweiri says. Instead, it could drag the US into an unexpected confrontation with the Houthis, with difficult regional consequences.

The Houthis, who call themselves Ansarallah, do not lead a conventional state, and their approach to conflict differs from that of the Trump administration, says Zweiri. As a result, “their definition of victory is also different. They may carry out small actions, but they can still harm both the US and its image. That’s what they have done when it comes to Israel.”

Zweiri also recalls how the US was forced to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan after facing prolonged local resistance. The US did not win those wars, he argues, but “actually lost.”

“Houthis might chart their own course”

While the Houthis are a Shia group and an ally of Iran, they sometimes act independently of Tehran, unlike groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

“Renewed Israeli attacks on Gaza may push the Houthis toward more retaliatory actions against the US and its allies, unlike other Iran-backed groups,” says Devecioglu.

He also adds that Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” has been losing influence across the Middle East, from Hezbollah’s retreat in Lebanon under Israeli attacks to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. Given this, the Houthis might chart their own course.

“Hezbollah’s reluctance to engage in direct conflict with Israel and Iran’s limited regional engagement may create a sense of strategic isolation for the Houthis,” Devecioglu says. “Although the Houthis see themselves as a key member of the Resistance Front led by Iran, they may feel they are not receiving sufficient support in their attacks against Israel and the West.”

This perception of isolation could push the Houthis “to act more independently and develop their own military strategies,” he adds, noting that they belong to the Ansarallah branch of Shia Islam, which has an ideologically distinct structure from both Iran and Hezbollah.

“Iran and Hezbollah’s cautious stance may not only lead the Houthis to act more aggressively militarily but also encourage them to strengthen diplomatic ties with other regional actors, particularly those opposing US influence globally and regionally,” says Devecioglu.

According to Daniel E. Mouton, a former senior US official and non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs, “the Houthis receive support not only from Iran, but also from procurement networks in China and Russia.”

This suggests that beyond targeting the Houthis militarily, the US also needs to engage Moscow and Beijing to sever their ties with the group and weaken its supply routes, Mouton wrote in a recent blog.

However, Devecioglu warns that the more isolated the Houthis feel, the more likely they are to adopt “a radical and aggressive posture” against the US and its allies. “The Houthis’ anti-Israel stance serves both ideological and political purposes for their survival,” he adds.