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U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday shared a video of what he said was a U.S. strike on alleged Houthi rebels in Yemen, as questions grow over the effectiveness and long-term goals of the American military campaign against the Iran-backed group.
Trump posted the footage on his Truth Social platform, showing a group of men standing in a circle before being hit by what appeared to be a precision strike. “These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,” Trump wrote. “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis! They will never sink our ships again!”
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Trump footage of US airstrike on alleged Houthi fighters in Yemen
Houthi officials denied the claim, saying the gathering was a tribal meeting intended to resolve internal disputes, not a military planning session. They accused Trump of misrepresenting the event and said his comments reflected failures in U.S. and Western intelligence on Yemen.
Early Saturday, the Houthis claimed they shot down a Shark F360 drone operated by the United States and Israel over the northern province of Saada, where U.S. airstrikes had been reported hours earlier.
The U.S. has launched near-daily strikes on Houthi targets since March 15 in response to the group’s continued missile and drone attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea. However, a CNN report late Friday, citing three sources familiar with the operation, said the campaign has had a “limited effect” on the Houthis’ military capabilities.
The sources said the U.S. had spent nearly $1 billion in under three weeks and used hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of munitions, including GPS-guided cruise missiles and Tomahawks. B-2 stealth bombers deployed from the British base on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean were also reportedly involved.
One source told CNN the Pentagon intends to request additional funding from Congress to sustain the campaign, though bipartisan criticism may make approval difficult. Vice President JD Vance, in a leaked private call with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg and others, questioned the wisdom of the strikes, calling them potentially misguided.
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U.S. officials told lawmakers that while some Houthi leaders were killed and military sites damaged, the group has largely preserved its weapons arsenal by storing it in fortified underground bunkers, as it did during past American operations. One official said it remains difficult to assess the full extent of the arsenal.
“The attacks put several sites out of commission but did not affect the Houthis' ability to continue firing at ships in the Red Sea or to shoot down American drones,” the official said. “In the meantime, we are burning munitions, fuel and time.”
It remains unclear how long the campaign will continue. Trump has said strikes will persist until the Houthis stop attacking ships, though the group continues to launch missiles and drones.
A U.S. security official noted a decrease in missile launches toward Israel in the past week and credited the American strikes with hampering Houthi operations, forcing many of their fighters into hiding.