American airstrikes in the two months of June and July 2025 killed as many civilians in 52 days as the previous 23 years of U.S. bombings in Yemen—America’s most underreported undeclared war.
According to a report compiled by the UK-based anti-war non-profit Airwars, a May 6, 2025 ceasefire between Yemen’s Houthis and the United States ended the most extensive military campaign of President Trump’s second term to date.
Airwars analyzed every public allegation of civilian harm during the Trump campaign against the Iran-allied Houthis—dubbed Operation Rough Rider—and compared it to previous harm allegations from U.S. campaigns in Yemen, both targeting the Houthis under President Joe Biden and against Al-Qaeda in the decades before.
In the period between the first recorded U.S. strike in Yemen and the beginning of Trump’s campaign in March, Airwars tracked at least 258 civilians allegedly killed by U.S. actions. In less than two months of Operation Rough Rider, Airwars documented at least 224 civilians in Yemen killed by U.S. airstrikes—nearly doubling the civilian casualty toll in Yemen by U.S. actions since 2002.
The two deadliest civilian harm incidents publicly recorded in the history of U.S. military operations in Yemen occurred during Trump’s campaign. Strikes on Ras Isa Port and Saada’s Remand Detention Prison allegedly killed at least 152 civilians and injured almost 200 others. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have now questioned the legality of both strikes.
Some of the most advanced munitions in the U.S. military arsenal were deployed, including the first documented use of the StormBreaker in combat—a new precision-guided U.S. bomb.
Civilian harm incidents were concentrated in the heavily populated cities of Sana’a and Saada. This differed from President Biden’s campaign against the Houthis, where civilian harm was typically dispersed across less heavily populated areas in western Yemen.
Over the past 23 years, U.S. strikes have allegedly killed at least 482 civilians, nearly half of them since the start of Operation Rough Rider in March 2025.
The United States has been bombing Yemen for more than 20 years.
U.S. military operations in Yemen have not received specific congressional authorization tailored to the conflict, particularly for strikes against the Houthis.
Just like the illegal attack upon Iran, the absence of specific congressional authorization for the Yemen war means that the actions are a clear breach of the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power “to declare War,” while Article II designates the President as Commander-in-Chief, implying authority over military operations once initiated.
Sustained strikes over a two-decade period clearly constitute “hostilities” or acts of war requiring congressional approval, violating Article I.
In addition, the two-decade-long war has cost the U.S. taxpayer at least $13 billion, with Trump’s bombing campaign costing more than $1 billion in just its first month.
