On the night of April 28, a migrant center in Saada in northern Yemen was filled with African migrants and asylum seekers. They were some of the tens of thousands who make the perilous journey each year from the Horn of Africa, across the narrow strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, and into Yemen in hopes of reaching the wealthy Gulf States to the north. 

Most were asleep at the time, when, without warning, massive explosions tore through the center. When the dust cleared, 68 of the migrants were dead, and hospitals in Saada were overwhelmed with the wounded. “Two nearby hospitals have already received more than 50 injured people, many of them critically wounded,” said a U.N. official. “These numbers could increase as search-and-rescue efforts continue.”

The remnants of at least three U.S.-made GBU-39 250-pound guided bombs were found in the ruins. 

Human Rights Watch called it the “deadliest known single strike of the new US campaign in Yemen.” 

Trump Fascist Regime’s Wanton Disregard for Civilian Life

Trump fascism is a regime that openly and aggressively strips away basic rights and blatantly declares that there is no rule of law and due process of law other than what it dictates, and that raw destructive power is what must rule in the international arena, without even the pretense of adherence to international law or concern about the sovereignty, or even the right to exist, of less powerful peoples and countries. (Second emphasis added)

—Bob Avakian, REVOLUTION #114

The Biden administration also carried out murderous air strikes on Yemen, but the Trump/MAGA fascist regime has taken things to a whole other level in terms of the intensity of its campaign, the breadth of targets it’s attacking, and not even pretending to care about civilian lives. 

Under Trump, the Pentagon’s Central Command bragged that U.S. strikes had “killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders,” and that the U.S. military is targeting “Iran-backed Houthi locations every day and night in Yemen.” Since March 15, the U.S. has carried out over 800 airstrikes, supposedly targeting “command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities and advanced weapons storage locations.” U.S. officials rarely mention the issue of civilian casualties. The Defense Department says it’s looking into the claims of civilian casualties in the April 28 migrant shelter strike. 

April 28—Far from the Only Massacre of Civilians 

The April 28 massacre of African migrants is far from the only massacre of civilians the U.S. has carried out in the last seven weeks. 

On April 20, the U.S. attacked Yemen’s capital Sanaa, killing 12 and injuring 30. The area targeted—a neighborhood near Sana’s densely populated Old City, a UNESCO world heritage site filled with ancient towers, and inhabited by ordinary people, not military targets. One casualty: a bakery that burned down, and its owner. 

On April 13-14, U.S. attacks killed seven people and wounded 29 others. On April 17, U.S. air strikes killed 74 people and wounded some 125.

Targeting civilians has always been part of the fighting doctrine of the U.S. military (see The American Crime series at revcom.us for many examples). But they have at times tried to cover this up. Not anymore.

Human rights groups report that U.S. strikes have caused “extensive civilian harm,” with hundreds of deaths and injuries already documented. “US airstrikes are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month,” said a Human Rights Watch researcher. “This is happening under a Trump administration that has loosened policy constraints on the use of force and is seeking to marginalise Pentagon offices charged with mitigating civilian harm.”

As revcom.us reported in March, “The U.S. has explicitly altered its military doctrine to kill more civilians than in past attacks. Two defense officials told the website Military.com that there is ‘less reluctance to hold off striking targets based on the casualties that may result.’” 

After the April 28 bombing of the migrant center in Saada, human rights advocates warned that “The use of explosive weapons in populated areas, particularly in known detention facilities, carries a high risk of indiscriminate impact. Failing to take all reasonable precautions before an attack may amount to a violation of international law. Deliberate or reckless attacks on civilian infrastructure can constitute war crimes.”

In short, this system's wars have always been murderous. And this is taking a further leap now.

Intensifying the Hunger of an Already Hungry Population

Nearly 20 million Yemenis, over half the population, depend on aid to survive. But now the slashing of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding by the Trump regime has forced many humanitarian projects in Southern Yemen to close down. “The World Food Program, the WFP, has announced that they were feeding 9.5 million Yemenis,” PBS reports. “With the funding reduced now, they are capable of just feeding 2.2 million. And by the end of this year, it will be zero. The population is not going to go into hunger. It's going to go into famine because of this cut of the USAID.”

The U.S. Assault on Yemen and the Danger of Wider War 

The U.S. government has claimed that its military assault on Yemen is aimed at stopping the Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea shipping and on Israel.

The Red Sea is one of the world’s key trade routes. It connects the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, and some 12-15 percent of global trade and 30 percent of global container traffic pass through it. This amounts to an estimated $1 trillion in goods annually, and the Houthis attacks have cut Red Sea shipping in half. 

Since Israel launched its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, Yemen’s Houthis have launched some 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea as well as against Israel and at U.S. warships. The Houthis say these attacks will stop when Israel stops its genocide and indeed during Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas earlier this year, they did pause their attacks.

So this is of real concern to the U.S. rulers, and on March 15, Trump ordered an escalation of attacks—“Operation Rough Rider.” 

But this is not their only possible target. The U.S. is involved in very tense negotiations with Iran, and U.S. officials have stated their attacks on Yemen are a warning to Iran. Over the past month and a half, the U.S. has significantly increased its a military presence in the Middle East, including keeping two aircraft carriers in the region. All this comes as Israel, the U.S.’s regional gendarme, is not only escalating its genocide in Gaza, it has repeatedly attacked Lebanon and is stepping up its military intervention in Syria. 

All this points to the real danger of far greater bloodshed and devastation across the Middle East that could engulf millions.