President Donald Trump's administration started looking for a way out of its bombing campaign against Yemen's Houthi militants just weeks after it began, and officials say that a hasty truce allowed the group to rebuild and come back stronger than ever.
Weeks before Operation Rough Rider began, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. suggested getting new assessments of what strikes might achieve, but the Washington Post reported that Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, then head of U.S. Central Command, cut him off, saying "the time for assessments is over," and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sided with him.
Trump launched the operation on March 15, 2025, vowing the Houthis "will be completely annihilated!" The 51-day campaign cost an estimated $1 billion-plus and struck more than 1,000 targets, but the Houthis kept firing at U.S. warships and shot down at least seven MQ-9 Reaper drones. The U.S. also lost two F/A-18 fighter jets in mishaps at sea.
The "Signalgate" scandal dogged the operation almost from the start.
Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials discussed the strikes in a Signal group chat that accidentally included Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. Hegseth shared specific details of the bombing before it began, and a Pentagon inspector general review later found his actions "created a risk to operational security."
The administration began hunting for an exit just a couple of weeks into the bombing, said April Longley Alley of the Washington Institute. Trump had no clear exit strategy, so when Oman said the Houthis wanted a truce, he took it.
"It almost seemed that Trump had buyer's remorse," a person familiar with Pentagon deliberations told the Post.
Yemen's Saudi-backed government had supported the campaign and was caught off guard when it ended.
"The Trump administration did not read the situation strategically," a Yemeni official said. "They just wanted a quick win."
Before long, the official said, the Houthis "rebuilt everything."
Trump declared victory in May 2025, saying the Houthis "don't want to fight anymore." The administration then all but walked away from Yemen. It never filled a special envoy post and slashed aid, and some in U.S. Central Command were "apoplectic," a former official said.
"You ignore Yemen at your own peril," that official warned colleagues at the time.
The warning has proved prescient. In recent weeks, the Houthis have seized the strategically vital Bab al-Mandeb Strait, reignited Yemen's civil war and attacked oil infrastructure and military bases in Saudi Arabia. With Iran's other proxies weakened, the group is now the most powerful piece of Tehran's "Axis of Resistance."
"The Houthis have learned how to use negotiations, ceasefires and truces as a tactic to preserve their power, rebuild their capabilities and prepare for the next round of conflict," Yemeni analyst Nadwa Al-Dawsari said.
Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson disputed the reporting, saying Rough Rider "achieved decisive success against Houthi forces" and "helped create conditions for a ceasefire that strengthened freedom of navigation."
The president has stayed upbeat, saying last month that the Houthis "don't want to fight us" and "everything will work out very well."
"Trump may be done with the Houthis," Alley said, "but the Houthis are not done with Trump."
