Trump Says Truce Reached With Houthis After They Promise to

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Dow Jones NewsMay 6, 6:25 PM UTC
DJ Trump Says Truce Reached With Houthis After They Promise to Stop Targeting Ships -- Update

By Alexander Ward and Michael R. Gordon

 

President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. had reached a truce with the Houthis in Yemen and would suspend its airstrikes there, claiming that the militants would no longer target ships navigating Middle Eastern waters.

 

"I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "They just don't want to fight, and we will honor that."

 

Oman said it helped the U.S. mediate a truce between Israel and the Houthis in which the two sides agreed not to target each other and the militant group said it would stop firing on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

 

Marco Rubio, who is both secretary of state and interim national security adviser, said the goal of the weekslong strikes on Houthi targets was to get the group to stop their assaults on regional shipping. "If it's going to stop, then we can stop," Rubio said.

 

The U.S. has struck more than 1,000 targets throughout "Operation Rough Rider," which has lasted more than 50 days.

 

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Houthi Political Bureau didn't mention a cease-fire with the U.S. and reiterated that its military moves would continue until the war in Gaza is halted.

 

"The Yemeni people remain committed to their pressure options against the [Israeli] entity until the aggression on Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted," the statement said. "The Israeli and American aggression will not go unanswered and will not deter Yemen from continuing its supportive stance toward Gaza."

 

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, said they couldn't say whether the bombing campaign had been halted, referring questions to the White House. A spokesman for the National Security Council said he had no additional information to provide.

 

The U.S. has conducted daily military strikes on the Houthis since March 15, including Monday night, defense officials said.

 

Israeli warplanes hit the main airport controlled by the Houthis on Tuesday, in its second day of retaliatory strikes after the group struck Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

 

Israel's military said it hit runways, aircraft and airport infrastructure, disabling the airport in the Houthi-controlled capital, San'a. It also said it struck several power plants near the city, as well as a concrete plant. A day earlier, Israel hit the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and a cement plant.

 

The Houthis confirmed the strikes, which they said killed three people, injured 35 and damaged the airport. Yemenia Airways, the national carrier, said it suspended all flights from San'a International Airport until further notice.

 

The Israeli military warned people near the airport to evacuate about an hour before the attack, triggering a large-scale displacement from the area, residents said. It alleged that the Houthis use the airport to transfer weapons and operatives from Iran. Previous attacks were carried out without warning.

 

The Houthis started to launch drones and missiles at Israel soon after the Israelis sent their forces into Gaza in response to the October 2023 Hamas attack that, according to Israeli authorities, killed 1,200 and led to the kidnapping of 250 people.

 

The Houthis also began to attack international shipping that transited the Red Sea and nearby waters, disrupting a major shipping lane.

 

The Biden administration sent U.S. warships to try, along with allies, to safeguard international shipping, and responded with airstrikes. The Trump administration, acting on a plan provided by Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, has greatly stepped up the campaign, including by mounting attacks on Houthi leaders.

 

The U.S. military campaign was recently broadened to include the U.K., which in late April joined in the airstrikes against the Houthis for the first time since Trump took office.

 

In recent days, the Houthis appeared defiant. On Sunday, they fired a ballistic missile that struck near Israel's main airport, which prompted the retaliatory attacks from Israel.

 

In an update in late April, Central Command said the U.S. had destroyed command-and- control facilities, air defenses, weapons factories and stores of missiles. Those attacks have involved two aircraft-carrier battle groups as well as B-2 bombers that were deployed in the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

 

The U.S. airstrikes have come at a cost. Several MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost over Yemen since Central Command began its current campaign in mid-March. And a F/A-18 jet fell off the deck of a carrier and sank.

 

The International Committee for the Red Cross has also reported that the U.S. strikes have caused civilian casualties, which Central Command says it is investigating.

 

Write to Alexander Ward at [e-mail] and Michael R. Gordon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

 

May 06, 2025 14:25 ET (18:25 GMT)

 
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