Trump Vows U.S. Will Halt Attacks on Yemen’s Houthis

WASHINGTON, May 7 -- President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's ordering a halt to nearly two months of US airstrikes on Yemen's Houthis, saying that the Iran-backed rebels have indicated that "they don't want to fight anymore" and have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital maritime corridor.

"We're going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately," Trump said at the start of his Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, AP reports.

Trump said that the Houthis had indicated to US officials that "they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings."

That likely means an abrupt end to a bombing campaign that began in March, when Trump promised to use "overwhelming lethal force" after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel's mounting another blockade on the Gaza Strip.

At the time, they described the warning as affecting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Arabian Sea.

Trump said the Houthis had "capitulated but, more importantly, we will take their word that they say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that's what the purpose of what we were doing," Trump said.

"I think that's very positive," Trump added. "They were knocking out a lot of ships."

Asked how the Houthis had communicated that they were looking to stop being targeted by US bombs, Trump offered few details, saying only with a chuckle that the information came from a "very good source."

Drone assaults temporarily closed Moscow's international airports in Ukraine.

Shortly after, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi announced that the US bombing campaign had come to an end. He shared this news on X, stating that talks involving the US, Oman, and representatives from Yemen led to a ceasefire agreement between the opposing parties.

Future interactions will ensure that neither party targets the other, including U.S. ships, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, safeguarding free passage and uninterrupted global commerce," he stated, describing the accord as a "positive development.

The wide-ranging missile strikes initiated by Trump mirrored those conducted numerous times against the Houthis by his predecessor’s administration under President Joe Biden, in reaction to recurrent assaults on both commercial and military ships in the area.

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