The Houthi militia in Yemen vowed to retaliate after President Trump ordered large-scale military strikes on targets controlled by the group that it said killed at least 31 people.

The Iran-backed group said women and children were among those killed in the strikes on Saturday, the most significant U.S. military action in the Middle East since Mr. Trump took office in January.

For more than a year, the Houthis have launched attacks against Israel and threatened commercial shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with their allies Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza.

The U.S. airstrikes targeted Houthi-controlled areas across Yemen, including the capital, Sana, as well as Saada, al-Bayda, Hajjah and Dhamar Provinces, according to reports from Houthi-run media channels. The strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women,” said Anis al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry.

The casualty figures could not be independently verified, and the United States has not given any estimates for the number of people killed or wounded in the strikes.

The U.S. Central Command, which posted a video of a bomb leveling a building compound in Yemen, said that the United States had employed precision strikes to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.”

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