This image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy shows an aircraft launching from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea before airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (U.S. Navy via AP)2025-03-17T09:44:37Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The United States under President Donald Trump has launched a new campaign of intense airstrikes targeting Yemens Houthi rebels. This weekends strikes killed at least 53 people, including children, and wounded others. The campaign is likely to continue, part of a wider pressure campaign by Trump now targeting the Houthis main benefactor, Iran, as well. Heres what to know about the U.S. strikes and what could happen next: Why did the U.S. launch these new airstrikes?The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January this year. Their leadership described the attacks as aiming to end the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The campaign also greatly raised the Houthis profile in the wider Arab world and tamped down on public criticism against their human rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent and aid workers.Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, said his administration targeted the Houthis over their unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism. He noted the disruption Houthi attacks have caused through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, key waterways for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe through Egypts Suez Canal. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective, Trump said. Didnt the U.S. already target the Houthis with airstrikes?Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. and the United Kingdom began a series of airstrikes against the Houthis starting in January 2024. A December report by The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the U.S. and its partners struck the Houthis over 260 times up to that point.U.S. military officials during that period acknowledged having a far-wider target list for possible strikes. While the Biden administration didnt go too far into explaining its targeting, analysts believe officials largely were trying to avoid civilian casualties and not rekindle Yemens stalemated war, which pits the Houthis and their allies against the countrys exiled government and their local and international allies, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Trump administration, however, appears willing to go after more targets, based on the weekends strikes and public remarks made by officials. Were doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News Face The Nation on Sunday. Thats the mission here, and it will continue until thats carried out.Rubio added: Some of the key people involved in those missile launches are no longer with us, and I can tell you that some of the facilities that they used are no longer existing, and that will continue. What could the new U.S. strikes mean for the wider Mideast?In two words: More attacks. The Houthis said last week theyll again target Israeli ships traveling through Mideast waterways like the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, because of Israels blocking of aid to the Gaza Strip. No rebel attack targeting commercial shipping has been reported as of Monday morning. However, the new U.S. campaign likely could inspire Houthi attacks at sea or on land beyond American warships. The rebels previously targeted oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two countries deeply involved in Yemens war since 2015. Although the U.S. has been striking at Houthi targets for over a year, the scope and scale of this new campaign, including the targeting of senior Houthi figures, marks a significant escalation in the conflict, analysts at the Eurasia Group said Monday. Gulf Arab countries will distance themselves from ongoing hostilities but now face threats to their major oil infrastructure. The Houthis will want to hit President Donald Trump where it hurts, oil prices. Meanwhile, the Houthis likely will expand their possible targets for ship attacks, meaning shippers will continue to stay out of the region, said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners. Where are the Iranians in all of this?Iran long has armed the Houthis, who are members of Islams minority Shiite Zaydi sect, which ruled Yemen for 1,000 years until 1962. Tehran routinely denies arming the rebels, despite physical evidence, numerous seizures and experts tying the weapons back to Iran. Thats likely because Tehran wants to avoid sanctions for violating a United Nations arms embargo on the Houthis. The Houthis now form the strongest group within Irans self-described Axis of Resistance. Others like Lebanons Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been decimated by Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that sparked Israels war of attrition in the Gaza Strip. Allied Shiite militias in Iraq largely have kept their heads down since the U.S. launched retaliatory attacks last year over a drone attack that killed three American troops and injured at least 34 others at a military base in Jordan. While Iranian state television aired footage of civilian casualties from the weekend strikes in Yemen, top political leaders stayed away from suggestion Tehran itself would get involved in the fight. Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami notably underscored the Houthis made their own decisions while not offering any warning over what would happen if the strikes killed any members of the Guards expeditionary Quds Force, who are believed to actively support the rebels on the ground. We have always declared and we declare again today that the Yemenis are an independent and free nation in their own land, with an independent national policy, Salami said.Trumps national security adviser Mike Waltz, speaking to ABCs This Week on Sunday, warned Guard officials training the Houthis will be on the table too as possible targets for attack. Meanwhile, Iran is still trying to determine how to respond to a letter from Trump aiming to restart negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. Irans Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled Sunday to Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West. The attacks on the Houthis are a not-so-subtle signal to Iran, as President Trump has been unequivocal in his insistence that Iran return to the negotiating table to deal with its nuclear program, the New York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis Monday. JON GAMBRELL Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. twitter instagram mailto