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yesterday

Pentagon Tells Congress U.S. Strikes Killed 153 Civilians in Yemen

The admission exposes gaps in the department’s accounting and raises fresh questions about investigative methods and cuts to civilian-protection staff.

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Yemenis inspect a residential area after an alleged U.S. airstrike in the Shoub district on April 21, 2025, in Sana'a, Yemen. Twelve people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in the overnight strike, according to Houthi authorities.
U.S. Army soldiers take part in a U.S.-South Korea joint river-crossing exercise, which is a part of the annual Freedom Shield joint military training, near the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea, in Yeoncheon, South Korea, March 14, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon/File Photo
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Overview

  • This week the Pentagon told Congress that three U.S. strikes in April 2025 in Yemen were “more likely than not” to have killed 153 civilians and wounded 243, and that 15 other Yemen incidents remain under review.
  • The department based its findings on U.S. intelligence, satellite imagery, and open-source reporting and did not conduct site visits or interviews to verify casualties.
  • The report excludes U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific where independent trackers and rights groups say hundreds more people were killed and legal experts have called the strikes unlawful.
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reductions to the Civilian Protection Center and CHMR teams are cited in the review and by officials as a reason the Pentagon’s capacity to investigate and corroborate civilian harm has weakened.
  • Lawmakers, rights groups, and anonymous officials have criticized the assessment as incomplete or a ‘whitewash,’ and Congress is pressing for more transparency, possible hearings, and fuller accounting of other contested strikes.