According to a post on Truth Social on Saturday, President Trump announced he authorized airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen.

Trump stated in his post that he “ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,”

He accused the Houthis of engaging in “an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”

Trump also criticized former President Joe Biden, claiming the Democratic president’s response to the group “was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.”

Trump wrote that “It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the or the Gulf of Aden,” and that “The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times….These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.”

His post concluded with a direct message to Houthi terrorists: “YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”

The announcement follows an incident three weeks prior, where the Houthis reportedly fired surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at a U.S. F-16 fighter jet. According to three senior U.S. defense officials, the Feb. 19 incident was the first instance of the Houthis firing SAMs at a U.S. jet.

The missiles did not hit the F-16, and the Houthis also unsuccessfully fired another SAM at an American MQ-9 Reaper drone on the same day.

In January, Trump redesignated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), reversing a decision by the Biden administration. Trump’s first administration had previously made the same designation four years prior.

The order stated that “Supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), which arms and trains terrorist organizations worldwide, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023, endangering American men and women in uniform.”

‘ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

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