THE UK has been urged not to make itself "complicit in further harm" in Yemen after a report laid bare the hundreds of lives lost in US airstrikes – often supported by the UK – on the country.
Yemeni human rights organisation Mwatana for Human Rights, in partnership with the Cost of War Project at Brown University, has detailed 576 casualties – including 213 deaths – that occurred as a result of US airstrikes between December 2023 and May 2025.
It features 59 interviews with survivors, family members of victims, eyewitnesses and first responders about the lasting impact of these attacks including the deadliest airstrike in April 2025 on the fuel storage facility at Ras Isa port, which killed at least 80 civilians.
Mwatana has called for accountability and reparations for the several hundred people killed and injured over the 18-month period.
Ruth Rohde, a researcher at Shadow World Investigations UK who has been investigating how the West has profited from the conflict in Yemen, told The National the report shows why the UK should avoid making itself complicit in future attacks after "contributing to the destruction of Yemen".
She said: "This report is a timely reminder of the lasting harm caused by airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
"Yemen is not a plaything for international politics; it is a society that has suffered under decades of war and foreign intervention.
" The foreign and domestic forces in Yemen should take note of the key demands from civilians for truth, just reparations, and ensuring that such violations are not repeated. This includes the UK, which has contributed to the destruction of Yemen by arming the Saudi-UAE-led coalition in their war in Yemen for years, as well as by aiding recent U.S. strikes on the country.
"As countries weigh their response to recent Houthi military gains, the UK should not make itself complicit in further harm."
Mwatana’s report covered strikes under two US military operations in parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.
Both operations were launched in response to attacks by the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group on ships and commercial vessels traveling to and from Israel through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
It covers Operation Prosperity Guardian, launched under the Joe Biden administration from January 2024 to January 2025, as well as Operation Rough Rider, ordered by President Trump between March and May 2025.
Operation Prosperity Guardian included the participation of UK fighter jets while Operation Rough Rider included one UK airstrike. The UK reportedly provided air-refuelling to the US including on the first night of US airstrikes in March 2025.
The report comes amid renewed tensions in Yemen after the Houthi armed group recently captured the strategic port city of Mocha and advanced along the coast of the Bab al-Mandab Strait – the narrow passage connecting the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. This will give the Houthis much greater ability to influence maritime shipping.
Mwatana has called on the US to take full responsibility for the civilian casualties and to institute a formal reparations program.
Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Mwatana chairperson, said: “The losses caused by US airstrikes against civilians cannot be regarded as temporary harm that ends when military operations cease.
"Civilians who have lost loved ones, homes, or sources of income continue to bear the consequences of these attacks, amid economic and humanitarian conditions that do not provide them with even the minimum capacity to recover.
“Protecting civilians is not limited to avoiding killing or injuring them; it also includes respecting civilian objects and livelihoods.
"The United States must assume its legal and moral responsibility to recognise the civilian victims of its military operations in Yemen, provide them with redress and reparation, and hold accountable those responsible for the violations inflicted upon them.”
