President Donald Trump on Friday evening spiked the football after over two weeks of Yemen bombings. He posted a video on Truth Social and X which purports to show a gathering of Houthi fighters.
Large aerial munitions are shown falling on them and the screen erupts in a giant explosion and fireball, to which the US President responds, “oops”. The images resembled what’s typically captured from military drones or loitering aircraft observing a strike.
Several dozens of people appeared on the ground in the footage, somewhat strangely standing in an oval shape.
“These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,” Trump wrote in his commentary. “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis! They will never sink our ships again!” he added.
It’s impossible to actually know at this point what the people gathered in the footage were doing, or who precisely they were. Presumably President Trump is relying on carefully vetted intelligence in this instance, but as we know from the recent two+ decades of the so-called Global War on Terror that it is not always the case that the situation on the ground is carefully vetted.
AntiWar’s Dave DeCamp made the case for skepticism, quipping sarcastically on X:
Hey guys the most advanced military in the world is constantly bombing us and flying surveillance drones over our head. Let’s have our next war meeting in a giant circle in a completely open area with zero cover.
Despite Trump’s social media bravado, Department of Defense (DoD) officials are admitting only the “limited success” of the anti-Houthi campaign.
The NY Times has detailed this mixed assessment from the Pentagon as follows:
In closed briefings in recent days, Pentagon officials have acknowledged that there has been only limited success in destroying the Houthis’ vast, largely underground arsenal of missiles, drones and launchers, according to congressional aides and allies.
The officials briefed on confidential damage assessments say the bombing is consistently heavier than strikes conducted by the Biden administration, and much bigger than what the Defense Department has publicly described.
But Houthi fighters, known for their resiliency, have reinforced many of their bunkers and other targeted sites, frustrating the Americans’ ability to disrupt the militia’s missile attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, according to three congressional and allied officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
Indeed the Houthis have vowed they won’t back down so long as Israel continues occupying the Gaza Strip. They have claimed several attacks on the US Carrier Truman, as well as shootdowns of MQ-9 Reapers drones, and ballistic missile attacks on Israel.
These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!
They will never sink our ships again! pic.twitter.com/lEzfyDgWP5
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2025
The Pentagon has largely kept quiet, not confirming or denying some of these latest alleged Houthi ‘successes’. In the past, it has only acknowledged a few instances where drones were downed over Yemen, but has never confirmed a warship was hit.
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Some officials, including within Trump’s own administration (notably Vice President J.D. Vance), have called the Yemen campaign a mistake…
JD Vance – in the war chat group – argued that re-starting Biden’s bombing campaign in Yemen was a “mistake” given how little US interest there is: what one might call the America First view.
But long-time militarists were too excited to use their new positions to bomb someone. pic.twitter.com/VTSvZheqof
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 25, 2025
Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/05/2025 – 11:05
