
Photo: iStock / IgorSPb
President Donald Trump has ordered a halt to U.S. airstrikes against Houthi rebels based out of Yemen, over claims that the group has vowed to cease attacks against ships moving through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Trump announced the cessation during a May 6 meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, stating that the Houthis told U.S. officials that "they don't want to fight anymore," following a months-long U.S. bombing campaign dating back to March. According to the Associated Press, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaid confirmed in a social media post that discussions involving the U.S., Oman and negotiators in Yemen "resulted in a ceasefire between the two sides."
“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping," al-Busaid said.
The Houthis initially agreed to cease their strikes against any ships without direct ties to Israel in late January, before resuming attacks in mid-March after Israel began a blockade of all aid and supplies into Gaza on March 2. Shortly after that, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to hit back against the Houthis with an "unrelenting" series of military strikes. A report from The Atlantic later revealed that Hegseth had used the messaging app Signal to text sensitive details about those strikes to a group chat that Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg had inadvertently been added to.
Israel also attacked Houthi targets in Yemen — including port sites and a cement factory — on May 5, in response to a Houthi missile launch at Israel's Ben Gurion airport a day prior.
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