Pentagon Report Finds 153 Civilians Killed in 2025 Yemen Strikes

A U.S. Pentagon report submitted to Congress states that U.S. military operations killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 in 2025. All of these recognized casualties resulted from three strikes in Yemen conducted in April 2025. Specifically, the report indicates that five civilians likely died in an April 6 attack near Sanaa, 80 died in an April 17 bombing of the port of Ras Isa, and 68 died in an April 28 attack near Saada. These operations were part of a campaign by the Donald Trump administration to degrade the capabilities of Iran backed Houthi militants, who had intensified attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The U.S. Central Command based its assessment on intelligence, imagery, and public sources, though it did not conduct field visits or witness interviews. As of February 2026, the military is assessing 15 additional incidents in Yemen following reports from non governmental organizations. The report also noted that no civilian casualties were found to have resulted from operations in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in 2025. However, separate tallies show more than 200 people have been killed since September 2025 in strikes against vessels in the Eastern Pacific that the administration labels as narco terrorists. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the ACLU have characterized those specific maritime strikes as unlawful extrajudicial killings based on unsubstantiated claims.