Full story
Pentagon Yemen Toll
The Pentagon formally acknowledged that U.S. military operations in 2025 killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others, with the department’s tally attributing all recorded death and injury tolls to three U.S. strikes in Yemen.
“more likely than not" resulted in civilian harm”
Reuters reported that the Pentagon report submitted to the U.S. Congress said U.S. Central Command assessed the three April 2025 strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm.
The Pentagon review also said that as of February 2026 there were 15 other incidents in Yemen that Central Command was assessing in response to reports received through non-governmental organizations.
CBS News said the assessment did not include any deaths from airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, and it said those boat strikes began in September 2025.
The same CBS report said the campaign against Yemen’s Houthi militia group was named Operation Rough Rider and that from March to May 2025 the U.S. bombed targets in Yemen related to the Iran-backed Houthis to prevent attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Debate Over Scrutiny
The Pentagon’s civilian-harm accounting drew attention to how the administration frames legality and oversight, with CBS News describing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as vowing to focus on "lethality" rather than "tepid legality."
CBS News also reported that the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence’s annual report to Congress documented a year marked by shrinking resources and an uncertain future, and it said staffing at the center dropped to just nine full-time employees by the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
In parallel, Reuters said the Pentagon report did not include any casualties from U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and it noted that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International consider such strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.
WRAL, citing an AP report, said the Pentagon review focused on three airstrikes in April 2025 and that the port strike was the most deadly, killing 80 people and injuring 171 others.
WRAL also quoted U.S. Central Command saying in April 2025 that the "strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen," while the review determined the strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm.
What Comes Next
The Pentagon review’s figures were tied to a broader campaign posture, with Reuters saying the U.S. military says it aims to degrade the capabilities of Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
“there were 15 other incidents in Yemen that the U.S. Central Command was currently assessing”
CBS News said the report is also notable for what it does not count, including casualties from controversial strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific that it said numbered about 120 last year and 95 this year.
Reuters reported that as of February 2026 there were 15 other incidents in Yemen under assessment, and it said the Pentagon report cautioned that the toll could rise further as those reviews continued.
WRAL added that the U.S. campaign against the Houthis turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II, and it said the Houthis now are carrying out a growing number of strikes against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
In the same AP-based framing, WRAL said the Houthis aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, and it described the port strike as sending massive fireballs billowing skyward and turning tanker trucks into burning wrecks.
