YEMEN DATA PROJECT
Collating and disseminating data on the conduct of the war in Yemen with the purpose of increasing transparency and promoting accountability
US STRIKES
Operation Rough Rider
15 March - 6 May 2025
On 15 March 2025, almost two months into his second term, US President Donald Trump broke the de-facto ceasefire in Yemen, launching Operation Rough Rider. The bombing campaign superseded his predecessor’s Operation Poseidon Archer, which carried out strikes in collaboration with the UK, from 12 January 2024 until the Gaza ceasefire came into effect on 19 January 2025.
The UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) reportedly supported the bombing campaign with air-to-air-refuelling before carrying out a direct strike on 29 April.
Operation Rough Rider ended on 6 May with Trump announcing a ceasefire. The air campaign was the most intense and deadly period of bombing in Yemen since the peak of the Saudi-led air war.
In 53 days, from 15 March to 6 May, the US carried out 339 strikes (an additional strike was claimed by the UK in April), surpassing the number of strikes in the year-long US-UK Operation Poseidon Archer under President Biden. At least 238 civilians were killed including 24 children. A further 467 civilians were injured with 31 children amongst them, compared to the 12 months of US-led Operation Poseidon Archer, which killed 21 civilians - a civilian death toll matched by the Trump air war in the first 48 hours of bombing in March.
A strike on the fuel storage facility at Ras Isa Port in April was one of the worst strikes for civilians on record. The death toll of 84 civilians killed including three children and 150 injured marked the strike as one of the worst for civilian harm on record.
In a decade of monitoring by Yemen Data Project only three air raids have been recorded as causing more civilian harm, all of which were during the seven-year-long Saudi-led air war.
The full dataset for Operation Rough Rider is available to download here.
Subscribe to YDP monthly updates here to keep up-to-date with recent strikes.
US-UK STRIKES
Operation Poseidon Archer
12 January 2024 - 19 January 2025
On 12 January 2024 the US launched strikes in Yemen against the Houthis in response to Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The UK was the main partner of the US in the coalition bombing campaign with British fighter jets taking part in strikes. Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand were named as additional supporting nations under the banner of Operation Poseidon Archer. YDP established a new database when US-led strikes began. The database includes US-led sea-to-land naval bombardments as well as air raids. The bombing campaign ended with the start of the ceasefire in Gaza on 19 January 2024 and the end of the Biden administration. Download the dataset for US-UK strikes from 12 January 2024 to 19 January 2025 here.
ISRAEL AIR RAIDS
July 2024 to date
Yemen Data Project recorded the first strikes by Israel in Yemen on 20 July 2024. Israel Defense Forces announced Operation Long Arm in response to Houthi attacks against Israel. Israel claimed there was "no American military involvement" in the strikes. Further Israeli air raids followed in September 2024 and have continued intermittently through 2025. Subscribe to YDP monthly updates here to keep up-to-date with recent strikes.
SAUDI AIRWAR 2015-2022
Saudi Arabia launched a bombing campaign in Yemen on 25 March 2015. Air raids continued until April 2022. Yemen Data Project collected detailed data on all 25,054 air raids carried out over seven years by the Saudi-UAE-led coalition in Operation Decisive Storm and Operation Restoring Hope. This was the first data collection project by the Yemen Data Project. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led the military coalition which also included participation by Egypt, Morocco (until 2019), Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar (until 2017) and Bahrain. The military coalition was backed by the United States and the United Kingdom, amongst other western nations. No Saudi-led coalition air raids have been recorded since the April 2022 ceasefire.
