A newly released Pentagon report formally acknowledges that U.S. military operations killed 153 civilians and injured over 240 in Yemen during 2025. The casualties, stemming from three airstrikes during Operation Rough Rider, mark a sharp rise from previous years. The report excludes controversial anti-drug boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, which legal experts criticize. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces scrutiny for dismantling the military's civilian harm mitigation programs.
Yemen civilian casualties
- ▪The Pentagon confirmed that three specific airstrikes in Yemen accounted for all of the department's confirmed civilian casualties from 2025.
- ▪The Pentagon report found that five civilians were killed on April 6, 2025, near Sanaa; 80 were killed on April 17, 2025, near Ras Isa Port; and 68 were killed on April 28, 2025, near Saada.
- ▪A Pentagon report submitted to Congress on August 10, 2026, formally acknowledged that U.S. military operations killed 153 civilians and injured 243 others in Yemen during 2025.
- ▪The organization Airwars reported that at least 258 civilians may have been killed during Operation Rough Rider in Yemen.
Operation Rough Rider
- ▪From March to May 2025, the U.S. military conducted Operation Rough Rider, bombing targets in Yemen to prevent the Iran-backed Houthi militia from attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea.
- ▪The Pentagon noted that as of earlier in 2026, the U.S. military was assessing 15 other incidents in Yemen in response to reports received through nongovernmental organizations.
Pentagon casualty reporting
- ▪The Pentagon's 2025 civilian casualty tally was mandated by Congress under the 2018 annual defense policy bill, which requires annual '1057 reports' on civilian casualties from the preceding year.
- ▪The number of civilian casualties acknowledged by the Pentagon rose from one in 2023 and two in 2024 to 153 in 2025 due to the military campaign against the Houthis.
- ▪The U.S. military did not conduct site visits or interviews to make its 2025 civilian casualty assessments, relying instead on U.S. intelligence, imagery, and public reporting.
Civilian Protection Center cuts
- ▪The Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request proposed reducing the civilian harm mitigation program's personnel funding by over $2 million and mission support by more than $9.5 million to disestablish the program.
- ▪Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sought to eliminate the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, arguing to Congress that it duplicates tasks performed by the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response program.
- ▪Staffing at the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence dropped from 40 employees to nine full-time employees by the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
Caribbean boat strikes exclusion
- ▪The Trump administration stated that the Caribbean boat strikes, which began in September 2025, are intended to target drug traffickers from cartels that the administration considers terrorist groups.
- ▪The Pentagon's 2025 civilian casualty report did not include any casualties from controversial U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.
Pacific boat strikes exclusion
- ▪The excluded boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean numbered approximately 120 in 2025 and 95 in 2026.
- ▪The Pentagon's 2025 civilian casualty report did not include any casualties from controversial U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.
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