Braxton Taylor
After reports of two major strikes against targets inside Yemen, officials at U.S. Central Command are refusing to discuss whether either action resulted in multiple civilian casualties or if either strike was militarily justified.
The silence on this topic is a sharp contrast from the official public presence of the combatant command. On social media, U.S. Central Command’s presence has been a near constant stream of U.S. fighter jets and other military equipment and boasts about “continuous 24/7 operations” and claims that Yemen’s Houthi rebels are terrorists since the bombing campaign began over a month ago.
Press reports citing Houthi sources have said U.S. strikes on the Yemeni port of Ras Isa earlier this month killed more than 70 people and wounded around twice as many, while another strike this week hit a migrant detention center, killing almost 70 African migrants. Those strikes are among hundreds of others as the military campaign has continued against the Houthis, who have targeted international shipping in the region, for weeks.
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The reports of casualties and lack of information from the Pentagon caused some senators on Capitol Hill to allege the Trump administration has a “serious disregard for civilian life.”
In a statement Sunday, the command, which began the open-ended bombing campaign on March 15, went even further and declared that it “will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do.”
Military.com reached out to officials at U.S. Central Command about the reports and Houthi claims after both strikes.
After the Ras Isa fuel port strikes, Military.com asked officials whether they disputed the Houthi death figures or if they had any responses to the allegations that striking a civilian port constituted a war crime.
An unnamed official, replying from a general email account at U.S. Central Command, simply replied that they “have nothing to provide outside of the statement that was released on 17 April.”
After the strike this past weekend on the migrant detention center, Military.com again asked officials on Monday whether they disputed the Houthi claim that nearly 70 civilians were killed or if they were aware of what they were targeting at the site.
Another unnamed official replied and said Central Command was “aware of the claims of civilian casualties related to the U.S. strikes” and that they were “currently conducting our battle-damage assessment and inquiry into those claims.”
The refusal to engage even on basic topics stemming from their military operations is a relatively new development.
Under the Biden administration, the command, which is headed up by Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, would regularly release updates on social media for the more than 100 strikes it conducted in Yemen since October 2023.
While they still insisted on withholding details such as the types of ordnance used, the posts included lists of targets hit by specific strikes and by what platforms, when U.S. warships were targeted and what Houthi assets were destroyed.
Those updates, the last of which was posted on Dec. 31, 2024, would also note whether any U.S. personnel were injured.
Then came Operation Rough Rider — a massive, around-the-clock and open-ended campaign of strikes against Houthi targets that began on March 15, ostensibly with the aim of restoring navigation to the Red Sea and punishing the Houthis for their earlier missile launches against Navy and merchant ships.
According to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued Tuesday, more than 1,000 targets have been hit to date — around 200 of which appear to have happened in the last several days.
In that time, Central Command has effectively refused to offer any details on what those strikes have been accomplishing, telling Military.com two weeks ago that “the U.S. has hit targets in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, destroying command and control facilities, weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations,” and it had “confirmed the death of several Houthi leader [sic].”
What little data officials at Central Command have released is inconsistent with its own statements.
Last week, Dave Eastburn, a spokesman for Central Command, told CNN that its efforts meant that “Houthi ballistic missile launches have dropped by 87% while attacks from their one-way drones have decreased by 65% since the beginning of these operations.”
However, days later, in its Sunday statement, the command said ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69% and attacks from one way attack drones have decreased by 55% — numbers far different than the earlier statement and what would represent an increase in Houthi activity if correct.
Meanwhile, Parnell has also failed to hold regular briefings for reporters despite making claims shortly after being hired that he would do so routinely and that, under him, the Defense Department would “be the most transparent DoD in American history for the warfighters and the American people.”
Such Pentagon briefings have always been a crucial way for reporters and the public to learn about overseas military operations.
CBS reported Monday that while Parnell has held just a single press conference since taking office, the White House has held 18 and the State Department 13.
The lack of information — specifically on civilian casualties — has begun to draw attention from Congress.
Last week, citing the reports on civilian casualties in the Ras Isa fuel port strikes, three Senate Democrats sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers on what steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce civilian harm. The trio also pressed Hegseth on whether the Pentagon has assessed the number of civilian casualties since the Yemen strikes began in March.
“President Trump has called himself a ‘peacemaker,’ but that claim rings hollow when U.S. military operations kill scores of civilians,” Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote in the letter.
“The reported high civilian casualty numbers from U.S. strikes in Yemen demonstrate a serious disregard for civilian life, and call into question this administration’s ability to conduct military operations in accordance with U.S. best practices for civilian harm mitigation and international law,” they wrote.
At the outset of the campaign, officials at the Pentagon said one of the key differences between the Biden and Trump approach to the Houthis was the delegation of some authorities from the president through Secretary Hegseth down to the operational commander — Kurilla.
While that meant Kurilla has been able to make more strikes with less oversight, two defense officials told Military.com that it has also meant less reluctance to hold off striking targets based on the casualties that may result.
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