Yemen stands firm: U.S. bombing campaign halted

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on May 6 the abrupt end to “Operation Rough Rider,” a relentless bombing campaign targeting Yemen in retaliation for its principled solidarity with Palestine. The announcement came after months of fierce Yemeni resistance, which saw U.S. and British forces squander billions on failed military aggression while Ansar Allah inflicted significant losses on their advanced weaponry.

Trump’s capitulation, framed as a “gesture of peace,” followed secret talks mediated by Oman. Yet Ansar Allah leaders swiftly clarified that their resistance would persist until Zionist genocide in Gaza ends. Mohammed Nasser Al-Bukhaiti, a senior Ansar Allah official, affirmed: “Our operations in support of Gaza will continue until the blockade is lifted. If the U.S. halts its attacks, we will reciprocate. But solidarity with Palestine is non-negotiable.”

Imperialist escalation meets Yemeni defiance

The Biden administration’s earlier bombing campaign, totaling 931 strikes, was less intense than Trump’s assault, which involved more than a thousand strikes within just a few months. This escalation, joined by British forces in April, aimed to crush Yemen’s blockade of Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea — a blockade enacted in response to Israel’s starvation of Gaza.

Yet Yemen’s resolve proved unshakable. Ansar Allah downed seven U.S. Reaper drones (worth $200 million). At least three $60 million fighter jets have been lost by the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier since December. On April 30, Ansar Allah military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement on Yemen’s al-Masirah TV channel that the attack in the Red Sea resulted in the “downing of an F-18 fighter jet into the sea” and forced the Truman to “retreat toward the Suez Canal.”

Also on May 6, the same day as Trump’s announced end to the bombing campaign, Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center warned airlines worldwide to avoid Israeli airports. On May 4, the Yemeni Armed Forces, the military wing of Ansar Allah, launched a Palestine-2 hypersonic missile that traveled more than 1,250 miles before striking the entrance of Ben Gurion airport. The missile bypassed multiple layers of Israeli and U.S. air defenses, including the Arrow 2, Arrow 3, and THAAD systems. 

Yemen is one of only five countries – Russia, China, Iran and North Korea being the others – to have working hypersonic missiles. These missiles travel at around 10 times the speed of sound on their re-entry phase and can maneuver away from air defense missiles, which is why the missile attack on Ben Gurion got through. The United States does not currently have any operational hypersonic weapons in its arsenal and has been unable to develop a viable hypersonic system.

War crimes expose U.S. barbarity

Blatant war crimes have marked the U.S.-British bombardment:

• April 28: A migrant detention center in Saada was obliterated, slaughtering 68 African refugees.
• April 21: A Sana’a market strike killed 12 civilians.
• April 17: The Ras Isa oil terminal was bombed twice, killing over 70 and crippling Yemen’s fuel infrastructure.

These atrocities, condemned under international law as collective punishment, underscore the brutality of imperialist warfare.

Yemen’s historic anti-imperialist legacy

Yemen’s resistance is rooted in a century of struggle. From expelling British colonizers in 1967 to opposing the 1991 U.S. Gulf War, Yemen has consistently defied imperial dictates. Today, their solidarity with Palestine echoes this legacy, exposing the fragility of U.S. hegemony.