The first set of Donald Trump’s airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 31 people, the rebel group said on Sunday, as its backer Iran said it would retaliate. 

The Houthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes, which were carried out with British military support. They added that 101 people were wounded. 

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to ‘use overwhelming lethal force’ and ordered Iran to ‘immediately’ cut its support.

The Houthis warned that the strikes ‘will not pass without response’, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had ‘no authority’ to dictate its foreign policy.

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei ‘strongly condemned the brutal air strikes by the US’ in a later statement, denouncing them a ‘gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter’, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed to retaliate against Trump’s strikes. 

The Houthi Ansarollah website slammed what it called ‘US-British aggression’ and Washington’s ‘criminal brutality’.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said ‘precision strikes’ were launched to ‘defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation’.  

‘Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,’ the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on their Al-Masirah TV station.

The first set of Donald Trump’s (pictured) airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 31 people, the rebel group said

A girl injured by a US strike lies on stretcher at a hospital in Saada, Yemen March 16, 2025

A plume of smoke billows during a US strike on Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa early on March 16, 2025

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to ‘use overwhelming lethal force’ against the terror group

The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the ‘axis of resistance’ of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Houthis had ‘attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023’.

The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has long supported the Houthis, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them ‘a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability’.

After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Houthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.

Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Houthi attacks on merchant shipping.

‘To all Huthi [sic] terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!’ he said.

US aircrafts taking off from aircraft carrier as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces carry out precision airstrikes kicking off a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi targets across Yemen

People and rescuers search amid the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 15, 2025

A man gestures as he searches in the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 16, 202

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen

The Houthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes

‘Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!’

Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Houthi movement as a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’, banning any US interaction with it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran, which supports the Houthis.

‘Continued Houthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,’ Rubio told Lavrov on Saturday, according to the State Department.

The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.

The war devastated the already impoverished nation.

Fighting has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Houthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.