Congress should exercise its authority to stop strikes on Yemen
(Washington D.C., March 27, 2025) – U.S. airstrikes across Yemen since March 15 are unconstitutional acts of war that lack congressional authorization, said the organizations DAWN, Action Corps and Just Foreign Policy today. Congress should stop strikes on Yemen and uphold its sole authority to declare war under Article I of the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Resolution (WPR). The strikes also violate Chapters I and VII of the United Nations Charter, which prohibit states from launching a war unless in self-defense or authorized by the U.N. Security Council.
"President Trump has not only launched us into a new military escapade in the Middle East, he's done so in breach of our Constitution, which requires congressional authorization to start a war," said Isaac Evans-Frantz, director of Action Corps. "Congress should demand an end to this reckless, unauthorized war that will both harm U.S. interests and continue to terrorize the Yemeni people who have already suffered years of U.S.-backed violence."
U.S. Escalation of Military Conflict
The most recent U.S. airstrikes on Yemen began on March 15, 2025. The following day Dr. Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi government health ministry, reported that 53 people had been killed, including women and children, and 98 people injured, in one of the most expansive attacks on the country since October 2023. The strikes reportedly included attacks on residential areas in Yemen's capital Sana'a, the Dahyan power station, a cancer facility being built in the city of Saada, and critical infrastructure across multiple governorates. From March 23 to 24, the U.S. pummeled the country with airstrikes on Sadaa, Hodeida, and Sana'a, striking a building in Sana'a that resulted in at least one casualty and 13 people injured, according to local authorities.
Ansar Allah, the political and military movement known as the Houthis, has served as the de facto government for most of Yemen's population for the past decade. In November 2023 they began to strike cargo ships that they deemed to be linked to Israel in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza and stated that they would end their strikes if a ceasefire was reached.
From November 2023 to January 2025, the Houthis attacked more than 100 merchant vessels, sank two, and killed four sailors. During this time, the Biden Administration repeatedly bombed Yemen, ostensibly aiming to counter these attacks, without authorization from Congress, from January 2024 to January 2025. The Houthis stopped their attacks for the duration of the ceasefire, but on March 11, 2025, announced their intention to resume targeting Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea due to the Israeli government's renewed blockade of the Palestinian enclave, including food, water, electricity and humanitarian assistance from entry into the territory.
Six days into the Trump administration's 2025 offensive in Yemen, PBS interviewed Jamal Amer, the Houthi foreign minister, through an interpreter. He said, "When the siege on Gaza ends, the tension in the Red Sea will end. Therefore, when Gaza receives aid and Israel implements the agreement, everything will end."
No Congressional Authorization
The Trump administration commenced airstrikes on Yemen claiming that the Houthi maritime strikes are an attack on U.S. economic interests and national security. "No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World," a White House statement read on March 15. However, there is no evidence that Houthi forces attacked any U.S. ships or personnel from the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire in January 2025 through March 15. Houthi forces did attack U.S. warships in the Red Sea on March 16, following the commencement of U.S. attacks on Yemen.
The Trump Administration has not sought congressional authorization for its military actions in Yemen, as required by Article I of the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires specific congressional legislative authority for "the introduction of the United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances" (Sec. 2(a)). Introduced after Nixon's secret bombings of Cambodia, the 1973 WPR empowers Congress to invoke its constitutional war powers authority to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in wars like the war in Yemen. A WPR is privileged, meaning that any member of Congress can trigger a floor debate and vote. Both the House and Senate passed a WPR in 2019 to stop U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
Article II of the Constitution grants the president power as commander in chief of the military, which includes defending U.S. personnel and military assets against imminent attacks, but, as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators wrote to President Biden on January 23, 2024, that does not grant the president the authority to conduct airstrikes in defense of other countries' security or commercial concerns, as is the case with the current U.S. military aggression in the Red Sea.
"Congress should take the necessary step to stop these illegal, ineffective, and unauthorized airstrikes in Yemen, by introducing a Yemen War Powers Resolution," said Etan Mabourakh, Action Corps fellow. "Rather than debating the Trump administration's violation of security protocols in their Signal chats, they should do their job and challenge another unlawful new war in the region that is making everyone less safe."
Strikes on Yemen Do Not Serve U.S. Interests
There is little plausible justification that the attacks on Yemen are defensive or serve to protect essential national interests. There had been no Houthi attacks on U.S. territory or military assets until U.S. strikes commenced against them, so there can be no claim that these attacks were in self-defense.
"The cessation of Houthi attacks during the short-lived Gaza truce underscores their primary focus to defend Palestinians from genocide—a reality obscured by Trump's rhetoric to justify unauthorized military action and deepen U.S. aggression in a widening conflict," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. "The best way to protect global maritime navigation through the Red Sea is to ensure the Israeli government ends its genocidal violence in Gaza."
President Trump has expressed an intention to continue the war with the Houthis and stated that they would be "completely annihilated." While the Biden Administration had required that the White House directly approve the U.S. military's airstrikes in Yemen, Trump has given blanket authorization to U.S. Central Command to launch offensive strikes against the Houthis.
"Escalating U.S. war in Yemen harms American interests and violates Trump's own campaign promises to the American people. The U.S. bombing of Yemen is actually inviting more attacks on U.S. shipping, not protecting it," said Erik Sperling, executive director of the advocacy organization Just Foreign Policy. "This is starting to look like the kind of regime change war that Americans hoped Trump would reject. If the administration does want to double down on war in the Middle East, they should follow the Constitution and receive authorization from Congress."
Signalgate and MAGA Opposition to the Airstrikes
President Trump's military actions in Yemen have raised eyebrows from within his own base, with prominent MAGA figures like Steve Bannon and Curt Mills of The American Conservative arguing that the strikes contradict his campaign promises and questioning America's obligation to intervene in the region.
Even senior Trump officials reportedly oppose the strikes, admitting they serve no national purpose and risk opening a new war front and causing economic disruption. In a leaked Signal message exchange, Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly admitted that the purpose of the strikes was not defensive but political posturing:
I think we are making a mistake… 3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn't understand this or why it's necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message… I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now… There's a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices.
Before becoming President, in January and May of 2024, President Trump also criticized President Biden's strikes in Yemen. In a May interview, Mr. Trump said, "It's crazy. You can solve problems over the telephone. Instead, they start dropping bombs. I see, recently, they're dropping bombs all over Yemen. You don't have to do that."
U.S.-Based Groups Oppose Airstrikes
DAWN, Action Corps, and Just Foreign Policy urge members of Congress to condemn these unauthorized bombings, to call for congressional hearings on the legality and strategic rationale of the airstrikes, and to introduce and support a WPR to prevent future unauthorized U.S. military aggression in Yemen.
