Trump May Have Just Committed A War Crime
April 5, 2025—Donald Trump, president of the United States, may have just committed a war crime.
Late Friday night, he tweeted a video of a drone bomb attack against men gathering in a large circle in a desert. He wrote, “These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!”
It’s not clear from the satellite footage what was happening on the ground, but logic suggests that it was more likely a tribal celebration than a war-planning meeting.
The Eid Festival
Eid al-Fitr is the first of the two main Muslim festivals that takes place in the Spring at the conclusion of Ramadan. Celebrations differ by country. Eid lasts anywhere from two to five days, commencing with the sighting of the new crescent moon.
As Sabrina Lohr describes in Connect the Cultures, in Yemen, men and their male children gather at sunrise for prayer on the first day of Eid. Sometimes, they gather in a mosque. Other times, they gather in an open area. Later in the day, they celebrate with traditional dances.
For some, the Eid festivals have meaning, and that meaning is forgiveness.
“My friend tells me that for him and his village, it is about forgiveness. During Eid you forgive your enemy for everything, my friend tells us, so that you can be happy,” Lohr writes.
The Red Sea
In his late-night tweet, which the White House amplified, Trump went on to say that the Houthis “will never sink our ships again!”
The Houthis have never actually sunk a U.S. ship.
In October 2023, the Houthis attacked ships in the Red Sea and fired missiles at Israel, vowing they would “continue to carry out qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.”
In December 2023, the United States, along with 13 partners, launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, an initiative aimed at securing the Red Sea against Houthi strikes.
The Houthis assert their attacks are to show solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza while they are under Israel’s starvation blockade and a genocidal bombing campaign. A timeline of their attacks shows that have fired on U.S. ships, including USS Mason
They have shot down a U.S. drone, but there is no history of them sinking U.S. ships.
War Planners or Civilians Celebrating a Holiday?
So, back to the question of whether the gathering of men in the Yemeni desert this week were celebrating a holiday or planning warfare, we might never pin it down. The mass media is more likely to follow the statements of the U.S. government than trust assertions made by tribal Houthis with customs reporters may never understand.
We do know, however, the U.S. strikes against Yemen have killed civilians.
Targeting civilians would be a war crime.
International Humanitarian Law “prohibits attacks directed against civilians, as well as indiscriminate attacks, namely those that strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction,” according to the International Committee on the Red Cross.
The Cost of Covering for Genocide
Since March 15, the Pentagon has used $200 million worth of munitions against Houthi territory in Yemen. The Pentagon calls it, Operation Rough Rider. Costs to the American taxpayer could reach $1 billion by the end of next week.
The New York Times reported yesterday that there is little strategic value in the strikes. Despite what the Trump administration is saying publicly, in closed briefings, Pentagon officials say “there has been only limited success in destroying the Houthis’ vast, largely underground arsenal of missiles, drones and launchers, according to congressional aides and allies.”
For Americans watching the news headlines, the question is: Should we even be waging war against the Houthis? Given the fact that the Houthis clearly have indicated they would stop militant activities in the Red Sea if and when the genocide and starvation campaign against the Palestinians stop, it would sure seem unwise not to address the root problem.
Expanding the war comes at a cost, not only to Yeminis but to the American people.
