President Trump said Tuesday that he's ordering a halt to nearly two months of US airstrikes on Yemen's Houthis, saying that the Iran-backed rebels have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital maritime corridor. "We're going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately," Trump said at the start of his Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump said that the Houthis had indicated to US officials that "they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings."
That likely means an abrupt end to a bombing campaign that began in March, when Trump promised to use "overwhelming lethal force" after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel's mounting another blockade on the Gaza Strip, the AP reports. Trump said the Houthis had "capitulated but, more importantly, we will take their word that they say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that's what the purpose of what we were doing." Trump added: "I think that's very positive. They were knocking out a lot of ships."
Asked how the Houthis had communicated that they were looking to stop being targeted by US bombs, Trump offered few details, saying only with a chuckle that the information came from a "very good source." Politico reports that according to US Central Command, the military has hit more than 800 targets in Yemen since March, killing hundreds of Houthis. The rebel group did not mention a ceasefire in a statement issued Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports. "The Israeli and American aggression will not go unanswered and will not deter Yemen from continuing its supportive stance toward Gaza," the Houthi Political Bureau said. (More Houthis stories.)
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