Houthis agree to stop attacking ships, Trump says
FILE-Yemen's Houthi loyalists walk on a street with a large billboard depicting the Houthi group founder Husein Al-Houthi, after visiting the tomb of the Houthi slain political president Saleh Al-Smad, on January 23, 2025, in Sana'a, Yemen. (Photo by
President Donald Trump said he is calling off more air strikes against Houthis, claiming that the rebel group has "capitulated" and doesn’t want to fight anymore, the Associated Press reported.
Trump told reporters in the White House on Tuesday that the U.S. "will stop the bombings. They have capitulated but more importantly, we will take their word." he added, "I think that’s very positive. They were knocking out a lot of ships."
Why did the U.S. launch strikes against the Houthis?
The backstory:
On March 15, the Trump administration started launching strikes against Houthis rebels. The Associated Press reported that American warships fired cruise missiles while fighter jets flying off of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier dropped bombs on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. These airstrikes left multiple dead.
RELATED: US strikes Yemen's Houthi rebels
The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in late 2023 and January of this year, when this ceasefire in Gaza occurred.
Additionally, the U.S., Israel and Britain previously attacked Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the March 16 operation was performed only by the U.S., according to a U.S. official. It was the first strike on the Yemen-based Houthis under the second Trump administration.
The Houthi attacks and the response to them have drawn criticism in Washington, D.C. after security officials in President Donald Trump’s administration revealed plans for the first round of strikes on the rebels in a group chat that included a journalist.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by previous LIVENOW from FOX reporting and the Associated Press. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.