Trump Announces Us Will Stop Bombing Houthis

The United States will stop strikes against Yemen’s Houthi group, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, after a nearly-two month bombing campaign.

Trump, ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the halt would start immediately. The Houthis approached the administration on Monday night indicating "they want to stop the fighting,” he said.

The military has struck at least 800 targets in Yemen and killed hundreds of Houthis since March, according to U.S. Central Command.

Trump framed the move as a handshake agreement to end the Pentagon’s bombing campaign in exchange for no longer attacking American ships. "It’s not a deal,” he said. “They said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore and we're not going to attack your ships.’”

The threat of Houthi attacks on the Red Sea waterway has forced commercial ships to divert course, causing lengthy delays and extending maritime trading routes thousands of miles around the tip of Africa.

But the arrangement is unlikely to calm tensions in the region if it’s limited to protecting American ships. Israel escalated strikes against the Houthis on Monday night with 20 fighter jets bombing the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah. Israeli forces were responding to a ballistic missile strike against the Jerusalem airport by the group. The Trump administration also labeled the Houthis a terror group in March, changing a Biden-era policy.

The Defense Department and U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following Trump’s announcement, said the Houthi strikes were a freedom of navigation issue.

“These are a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping,” he said. "And the job was to get that to stop.”

The bombing halt comes before Trump heads to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. Trump said he will make a "very, very big" and "positive" announcement before the trip, but did not specify what that would mean.