In Yemen strikes, Trump takes on a group that has outlasted powerful foes

The Houthi movement began in the 1990s as a ragtag tribal insurgency and seized swaths of northern Yemen

- Stephen Kalin

In ordering a pre-emptive attack on the Houthis in Yemen, President Trump hopes to succeed where all others have failed, taking on a foe that has outlasted powerful enemies for years.

U.S. officials said Sunday the attacks were designed as a show of overwhelming force, far more intense than the strike order under the Biden administration to take out the Houthis' capacity to harass Red Sea shipping lanes. The attacks also hit directly at the Houthi leadership, officials said—something the Biden administration decided against.

And they were intended to serve as a message to the Houthis' biggest backers Iran as well as show the U.S.'s resolve to act militarily in the Middle East, officials said. They described them as the beginning of a sustained campaign, which analysts say could last for weeks.

"Freedom of navigation is basic, it's a core national interest," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Sunday. "The minute the Houthis say, 'We'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting."

The Houthis have withstood attacks from internal and foreign enemies throughout their decade in power. The Houthi movement emerged in the 1990s as a ragtag tribal insurgency and seized swaths of northern Yemen, including its capital, Sana'a, in 2014, sparking a continuing civil war.

The group sustained thousands of airstrikes by a Saudi-led military campaign over seven years with U.S. backing and failed to restore the internationally-recognized government to power.

With Iranian arms and training, the rebels expanded their capacity to menace Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with drones and missiles.