United States military strikes targeting Yemen’s Ansarallah killed 153 people and wounded nearly 250 others in 2025, according to a Pentagon assessment. A US official familiar with the findings noted that all the civilian deaths and injuries recorded by the US military in 2025 resulted from three strikes in Yemen in April.
The unclassified assessment forms part of the Pentagon’s annual report on civilian casualties and was obtained by one of the US’s top news syndicates. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that the department would formally submit it to Congress in the coming months.
The toll marks a sharp rise from 2024, when the Pentagon assessed that US operations killed two civilians and injured two others.
The three strikes hit Houthi forces in and around the rebel-held capital Sanaa, as well as the Ras Isa fuel port. The Ras Isa attack was the deadliest, killing 80 people and injuring 171. It sent massive fireballs into the sky and left tanker trucks burning.
Central Command (CENTCOM) said at the time that the strike aimed to cut off a source of fuel and revenue for the Houthis.
“The strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen,” CENTCOM said following the April 2025 attack.
“US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorise the entire region for over 10 years,” it said.
The final civilian toll could still rise, as CENTCOM was reviewing another 15 incidents as of February.
The findings come amid renewed scrutiny of civilian deaths under President Donald Trump, including a US missile strike on a primary school in Iran earlier this year that killed as many as 168 people.
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