Why Trump called end to Houthi bombings

By José Niño

For months, U.S. warplanes screamed constantly over Yemen but, when the dust settled, it was the Houthis who stood defiant and the White House who blinked first.

President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to halt the U.S. bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthi movement marks a dramatic turn in a decade-long conflict that has devastated Yemen and entangled global powers in a costly and tragic proxy war.

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The ceasefire, brokered by Oman after two months of intense and expensive U.S. military operations, has raised questions about American strategy, the effectiveness of force, and the true cost of intervention in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The Yemen conflict traces back to the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2011, when Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to cede power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Hadi’s government struggled with corruption, economic collapse, and persistent violence, creating an opening for the Houthi movement—a Zaidi Shia movement with longstanding grievances with the Yemeni central government—to seize control of northern Yemen and, eventually, the capital Sanaa in 2014.

The Houthis’ advance forced Hadi into exile and set the stage for a full-scale civil war.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia, alarmed by the prospect of an Iranian-aligned group on its southern border, launched a military intervention with a coalition of Arab states, backed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The coalition’s stated aim was to restore Hadi’s government, but the war quickly became a bloody stalemate, with the Houthis entrenching their control over much of northern Yemen on the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

From the beginning, the United States played a crucial role in supporting the Saudi-led campaign. According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. provided intelligence, logistical support, aerial refueling, and tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This support continued despite mounting evidence that coalition airstrikes were killing civilians and worsening Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe.

The rationale for U.S. involvement was complex, involving efforts to counter Iranian influence, maintain alliances with Gulf states, and ensure freedom of navigation through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait—vital shipping lanes for global commerce. Yet, as the war dragged on, the Houthis proved unexpectedly resilient, even as the humanitarian toll mounted.

The war in Yemen has been catastrophic for civilians. According to the United Nations, by the end of 2021, the conflict had killed an estimated 377,000 people, both directly and indirectly, with over 150,000 of them due to military action. Nearly 15,000 civilians have directly died in airstrikes, many of which targeted gatherings and marketplaces far from any military objective. Millions more have been displaced, and the country has faced constant war, famine, disease, and the collapse of the Yemeni health system.

U.S.-supplied weapons have been implicated in numerous deadly attacks, including a notorious Aug. 9, 2018 bombing of a school bus that killed 51 people, according to a report by Amnesty International. Despite repeated claims of efforts to limit civilian casualties, the pattern of devastation has continued.

In March 2025, Trump launched “Operation Rough Rider,” a campaign of daily airstrikes intended to force the Houthis to halt attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. This campaign had intensified following the outbreak of war in Gaza the previous year. Trump demanded results within 30 days, expecting the Houthis to be bombed into submission.

According to a report by The New York Times, the U.S. military executed more than 1,100 strikes, killing hundreds of Houthi fighters and destroying command centers and weapons depots. However, the Houth­is proved highly adaptable in their fighting strategies by reinforcing bunkers, moving stockpiles underground, and continuing to launch missiles at U.S. and any vessels the Houthis believed were aiding in the slaughter in Gaza.

The financial cost was staggering. In just one month, the U.S. burned through over $1 billion in munitions and lost at least seven MQ-9 Reaper drones, each worth about $30 million. Two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, valued at $67 million apiece, were lost in accidents at sea during the campaign. The Houthis even came close to downing advanced F-16 and F-35 jets with their air defenses.

Despite the intensity of the campaign, the U.S. failed to establish air superiority or deter the Houthis from attacking shipping. As one defense official told CNN:

They’ve taken out some sites, but that hasn’t affected the Houthis’ ability to continue shooting at ships in the Red Sea or shooting down U.S. drones. Meanwhile, we are burning through readiness—munitions, fuel, deployment time.

The U.S. strikes also resulted in significant civilian casualties. According to the Yemeni Health Ministry, at least 53 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in one wave of the recent U.S. attacks, including women and children. A report from online news and commentary outlet “Middle East Eye” noted that many strikes hit areas with no Houthi presence, including a deadly attack on a migrant detention center that killed 68 innocent African migrants.

By early May, with no decisive progress and mounting costs, Trump accepted a ceasefire brokered by Oman. According to Reuters, the Hou­this agreed to stop targeting American ships in the Red Sea, and the United States halted its bombing campaign on Yemen. ​​

Trump’s announcement was blunt: “I will accept their word, and we will be stopping the bombing of Houthis, effective immediately.”

The Houthis, for their part, proudly declared victory, blasting the message “Yemen defeats America” across multiple social media platforms.

Trump’s decision to end the bombing campaign against the Houthis was not done out of his humanitarian concern for civilians. He agreed to a ceasefire because the United States was wasting billions of dollars every day and getting few real results.

This underscores the limits of conventional military power in this conflict and any others likely to follow. Years of U.S. support for the brutal Saudi-led attacks have failed to bring peace or stability. Instead, this foolish intervention has fueled a humanitarian disaster, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and claimed thousands of innocent civilian lives.

For Yemenis, the ceasefire brings little comfort. For America, it’s a sobering reminder that, today, superpowers can be defeated by small numbers of dedicated, inexpensively armed fighters who are willing to die to keep their lands free of interlopers.

José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. You can contact him via Facebook and  Twitter. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control at josealbertonino.gumroad.com. Subscribe to his “Substack” newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.

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