Houthi rebels post animated video of flag-draped coffins and destroyed US warship

The United States bombed Yemen, hitting Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran. In retaliation, the rebels vowed to take revenge. The US and the Houthi rebels have been using social media to disseminate their messages.

Houthis rebels posted an animated video on social media showing American flag-draped coffins floating near destroyed Navy ships. The video begins with music and depicts a single coffin draped in an American flag floating in the water. It then zooms out to showcases dozens of similar flag-draped coffins drifting away from destroyed warships.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), shared the animation on X, calling out the Houthis for their "delusions."

"These terrorists really cannot tell the difference between delusions and reality," Hussain Abdul-Hussain said in a post along with the Houthi animation.

The online provocation comes after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that the Houthis have been waging an "unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism" against American and allied ships.

"It has been over a year since a US-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden," Trump said in the post. "The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times. These relentless assaults have cost the US and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk."

He added, "To all Houthi 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!"

Meanwhile, the White House has also released images of Trump watching the strikes alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Security Advisor Mike Waltz.

"American assets have been under assault by the Houthis for too long. Not under this presidency," the White House declared in a post on X.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight US strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded over 100 in the capital of Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia, reports news agency Associated Press. The airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

Iran on Sunday also responded to Trump’s warning and denied aiding the Houthis. The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region.