SANAA, March 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The first US strikes against Yemen's Huthis since Donald Trump took office killed 31 people, the rebels said Sunday, with the US president warning "hell will rain down upon" the Iran-backed group if it did not stop attacking shipping.

The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.

An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising.

Attacks on Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, "most of whom were children and women", Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said in a statement.

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to "use overwhelming lethal force" to put an end to the Huthi's actions, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war in Gaza.

"To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON'T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!" he said.

In addition to announcing action against the Huthis, Trump issued a stern warning to the group's main backer.

"To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!" he said.

"Do NOT threaten the American People, their President... or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

The Huthis vowed the strikes "will not pass without response", while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had "no authority" to dictate Tehran's foreign policy.

The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called "US-British aggression" and Washington's "criminal brutality".

The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said "precision strikes" were launched to "defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation".

There was no immediate comment from Britain, which carried out strikes of its own against the Huthis alongside the United States during Joe Biden's presidency.

- 'Escalation with escalation' -

"Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation," the rebels' political bureau said in a statement.

The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the "axis of resistance" of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had "attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023".

The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them "a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country's sovereignty and stability".

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also "strongly condemned the brutal air strikes" in a statement, denouncing them as a "gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter".

The head of the country's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: "Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses."

- 'Not tolerated' - 

The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.

After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Trump's statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.

Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthis as a "foreign terrorist organisation", banning any US interaction with it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.

"Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated," Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.

The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.

The war devastated the already impoverished nation. 

Fighting has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.