Yemen has endured nearly a decade of relentless airstrikes from multiple foreign powers, leaving civilians trapped in a cycle of violence, destruction, and humanitarian crisis.
The most intense campaign, Operation Rough Rider, was launched by the United States on 15 March 2025, nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
The 53-day bombing campaign, which ended on 6 May with a ceasefire announcement, marked the deadliest period of US airstrikes in Yemen since the peak of the Saudi-led war, reports the Yemen Data Project.
Over this period, the US carried out 339 strikes, surpassing the total strikes of the year-long Operation Poseidon Archer under the Biden administration. The UK also participated, providing air-to-air refueling support and carrying out a direct strike on 29 April.
Civilian casualties were staggering. At least 238 civilians were killed, including 24 children, and 467 were injured, including 31 children.
The April strike on the fuel storage facility at Ras Isa Port was particularly devastating, killing 84 civilians, including three children, and injuring 150 – making it one of the deadliest attacks for civilians in a decade of monitoring by the Yemen Data Project.
Operation Rough Rider built on the prior US-UK-led Operation Poseidon Archer, which ran from 12 January 2024 to 19 January 2025.
That campaign, responding to Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, involved multiple coalition partners including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
During the 12-month campaign, 21 civilians were killed – a toll matched by the first 48 hours of the Trump administration’s air campaign.
Israeli airstrikes
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have added to the crisis. The first recorded Israeli raids in Yemen occurred on 20 July 2024 under Operation Long Arm, launched in response to Houthi attacks against Israel.
Israel has continued intermittent strikes through 2025, claiming there is no American involvement.
Recent Israeli airstrikes in Yemen have resulted in significant civilian casualties, raising concerns about the humanitarian impact of the ongoing conflict.
According to the Yemen Data Project, these strikes are part of Israel’s Operation Long Arm, initiated in July 2024 in response to Houthi attacks against Israel.
Civilian impact
In August 2025 alone, Israeli airstrikes resulted in 116 civilian casualties, marking the highest monthly toll since the operation’s inception.
These strikes have targeted various locations, including the port city of Hodeida and the capital, Sanaa.
Notably, an airstrike on a newspaper complex in Sanaa on 10 September killed 31 journalists and media staff, making it the second-deadliest attack on journalists ever recorded, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Saudi-led air war
Yemen’s long suffering began with the Saudi-led air war, which ran from 25 March 2015 to April 2022.
During that seven-year conflict, the Saudi-UAE coalition carried out 25,054 air raids, with participation from countries including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, backed by Western powers including the US and UK.
Decade-long monitoring by the Yemen Data Project paints a grim picture – Yemen has been repeatedly targeted by multiple foreign air campaigns, leaving its population trapped in one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
