Trump personally oversees US airstrikes on Yemen

According to RIA Novosti on March 16, US President Donald Trump is personally monitoring the US Air Force's airstrikes in Yemen, according to a publication posted on the official White House account on social network X.

The White House post included a photo of President Trump, in which he is wearing a headset with a microphone; another photo shows him looking at a screen.

“President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to protect US shipping and stop terrorist threats,” the post said.

President Donald Trump said on March 15 that he had ordered the US military to take "decisive and powerful" action against the Houthi movement in northern Yemen, opening a new wave of attacks on the Iran-backed group, which has targeted shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

Mr Trump said the US would deploy "overwhelming lethal force" against the group "until its objectives are achieved"; he also called on Iran to stop supporting the Houthis and not threaten "the American people and their president".

The US Central Command said the country has launched a large-scale campaign against Houthi forces in Yemen to protect US interests.

Meanwhile, US military airstrikes on Yemeni territory continue. The attacks once again targeted the northern province of Saada, considered a Houthi stronghold, and also hit the northeastern province of Maarib, which is partly under the control of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

Yemeni TV channel Al-Masirah reported that US warplanes attacked a power plant in the city of Dhayan in Saada province, northern Yemen, cutting off the power supply to the city and its suburbs.

Earlier, a Yemeni source told RIA Novosti that 13 people were killed and nine injured in US airstrikes on densely populated areas in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, while at least six more people were killed earlier in the city of Saada, including four children and one woman, as a result of a bombing of two residential buildings in the north of the city.

Yemeni analyst Mohammed al-Basha told the Washington Post that the Houthis could attack US bases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Djibouti in response to US military operations in Yemen.

The Politico newspaper reported, citing an unnamed official, that the US military's airstrikes in Yemen are part of the Trump administration's new policy in the Middle East, and that the US may expand military operations in the region.

“The increase in airstrikes in recent weeks against al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, as well as strikes against Islamic State leaders in Syria, is the result of a new policy. There will be more airstrikes in the region in the future, as the military sees new opportunities to target militant leaders,” Politico quoted the official as saying.

According to Politico, the US campaign against the Houthis comes amid new airstrikes targeting ISIS leaders in Syria.