NYT says Trump reversed decision on airstrikes on Houthis
U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his strategy on Yemen several times, The New York Times reported, torn between Saudi pressure to strike the Iran-backed Houthis and the risk of opening another front in the Middle East war.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement has staged a lightning offensive in recent weeks to take over the country's entire Red Sea coast, leaving the Saudi-backed government scrambling to respond.
The New York Times said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump on Sunday "to implore him, again, to step in to help blunt the rapidly advancing group."
Trump had told his advisers the day before that he opposed strikes but changed his mind after the call and "told the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes against the Houthis," the newspaper reported, citing anonymous administration officials.
However, he appeared to have reversed his decision again by midday Sunday, it said.
Trump's decision to pull back from striking the Houthis came as "commanders had approved target lists, troops were loading bombs onto U.S. warplanes selected for the missions and the wave of attacks was just about to begin," the Times said, citing two people briefed on the operation.
U.S. news platform Axios said Trump had already refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis last week.
Fox News reported on Sunday that Trump had said the Houthis have agreed not to hit U.S. targets.
The war in the Middle East began on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, after which the Islamic republic responded with attacks around the region.
Iran-backed groups including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon also later became involved.
The war in impoverished Yemen, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been largely frozen since 2022 but resumed in July.
Saudi Arabia has led a coalition backing the internationally recognized government since 2015. Its intervention escalated the war, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
21 September 2026, 17:50
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England took Yemen from the Ottoman Empire in 1834. It never conquered the "north". A Marxist state briefly unified Yemen, part of the United Arab Republic with Egypt and Syria. Google takes up the story after a few more wars: (1994–2007)The Rise of a Kleptocracy [after collapse of Marxist state in Yemen] : President Ali Abdullah Saleh solidified absolute control, restructuring the country into a pyramid of patronage dominated by northern military officers, tribal sheikhs, and businessmen… In 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring, mass anti-government uprisings swept the country. Facing a violent impasse, Saleh agreed to step down in 2012, handing power to his southern-born Vice President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi …
21 September 2026, 17:52
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Hadi’s transitional government was weak and deeply unpopular. Capitalizing on the chaos, Houthi rebels marched from their northern stronghold and captured the capital city of Sana’a in late 2014, forcing Hadi into exile and triggering a full-scale civil war. … In 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a major military intervention to push back the Iranian-aligned Houthis and restore Hadi’s internationally recognized government. (end of Google analysis)
