On April 17, 2025, U.S. airstrikes on Yemen killed 74 people and wounded some 125. Here medics care for wounded individual. Photo: AP
The Trump regime is continuing to escalate its murderous bombing campaign against Yemen. On April 13-14, U.S. attacks killed seven people and wounded 29 others. Then on April 17, U.S. air strikes killed 74 people and wounded some 125. Since mid-March, the U.S. has now killed 190 Yemenis.1
The U.S. claims it is targeting Yemen’s Houthi movement, not civilians. The Houthis are a movement of Islamic fundamentalists that are aligned with Hamas, and given backing by Iran. After this latest attack, the U.S. military’s Central Command stated, “This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully.”2
But whatever they say, civilians are being slaughtered. The victims of the U.S. April 17 strike were overwhelmingly civilians. “We saw the images of the victims and the extent of the destruction,” said one Yemeni woman who knew families that lost loved ones.
Trump posted on X celebrating the U.S. attack on a tribal gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Trump, who has vowed to “annihilate” the Houthis, posted a video on April 4 celebrating a U.S. air strike dropped on a group of people gathered in a circle. He said it was a group of Houthi fighters preparing for an attack and callously tweeted, “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!”
But who was it actually?! Seventy people gathered as part of a tribal gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.3
The U.S. also attacked the port of Ras Isa through which urgently needed humanitarian aid flows. The United Nations says some 80 percent of Yemenis are in need of this essential aid (such as food, shelter, clean water, and medical assistance).
Massive U.S. Military Buildup—Talk of Ground Invasion of Yemen
The month-long U.S. bombing campaign against Yemen is “much larger than the Pentagon had publicly disclosed,” the New York Times reports. The U.S. has used up some $200 million worth of munitions in the first three weeks of its campaign alone.
In fact, the U.S. is dropping so many bombs on Yemen that U.S. commanders are worried that “the Pentagon will soon need to move long-range precision weapons from stockpiles in the Asia-Pacific region to the Middle East.” Why? “[B]ecause of the large amount of munitions that the United States is using in a bombing campaign in Yemen ordered by President Trump.”4
This isn’t all. Over the past month or two, the U.S. has carried out its largest military buildup in the Middle East in the past year and a half or more. It has deployed two aircraft carriers, a half dozen B-2 stealth bombers, fighter jets, and Patriot and THAAD air defense systems.
And now the U.S. is reportedly in discussions with pro-U.S. forces in Yemen about the possibility of a joint ground offensive to oust the Houthis from the Red Sea coast, in order to prevent them from launching further missile attacks.5
Yemen and Iran in the Crosshairs—Raising the Danger of Wider Wars
This massive U.S. military buildup is directed at Yemen, but is also a threat against Iran. Trump has warned Iran that it will be held responsible and “suffer the consequences” if the Houthis attack U.S. forces. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed this: “Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice.”
All this underscores the urgency of the situation. As we wrote in March:
The situation is in flux and the intentions and capabilities of the different warring reactionary forces are not clear. But what is clear is that as long as these reactionaries and the capitalist-imperialist system that spawned them all dominate the planet, the people will continue to suffer and the danger of even more massive and devastating war will loom ever larger.
As the bombs fall and the rockets fly in Yemen, and the murderous threats of fascists and imperialists spread fear everywhere, the following words of revolutionary leader Bob Avakian stand out more than ever as an inspiring and fortifying guide for the masses of people:
We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that we do not have to live this way.