The U.S. killed almost as many civilians in 52 days as the previous 23 years of U.S. action in Yemen

On May 6 2025, a ceasefire between Yemen’s Houthis and the United States ended the most extensive military campaign of President Trump’s second term to date. But what was the full human cost of Trump’s eight-week bombing campaign, and how does it compare to the history of U.S. military action in Yemen?

Airwars analysed every public allegation of civilian harm during the Trump campaign against the Iran-allied Houthis – dubbed Operation Rough Rider – and compared it to previous harm allegations from U.S. campaigns in Yemen, both targeting the Houthis under President Joe Biden and against Al-Qaeda in the decades before.

Key findings reveal:

• In the period between the first recorded U.S. strike in Yemen to the beginning of Trump’s campaign in March, Airwars tracked at least 258 civilians allegedly killed by U.S. actions. In less than two months of Operation Rough Rider, Airwars documented at least 224 civilians in Yemen killed by U.S. airstrikes – nearly doubling the civilian casualty toll in Yemen by U.S. actions since 2002.
• The two deadliest civilian harm incidents publicly recorded in the history of U.S. military operations in Yemen occurred during Trump’s campaign. Strikes on Ras Isa Port and Saada’s Remand Detention Prison allegedly killed at least 152 civilians and injured almost 200 others. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have now questioned the legality of both strikes.
• The scale of the campaign resulted in an unprecedented level of civilian casualties per incident. During Operation Rough Rider, Airwars documented more incidents with higher numbers of casualties per strike than in any other U.S. campaign.
• Some of the most advanced munitions in the U.S. military arsenal were deployed, including the first documented use of the StormBreaker in combat – a new precision-guided U.S bomb.
• Civilian harm incidents were concentrated in the heavily populated cities of Sana’a and Saada. This differed from President Biden’s campaign against the Houthis, where civilian harm was typically dispersed across less heavily populated areas in western Yemen.

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