Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi asked Donald Trump for U.S. military support against the Houthis in a call this week, Vice President Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir said. Yemen wants intelligence and security coordination and help strengthening its forces.
Bawazir said he was unaware that the request had been rejected. Reuters, citing one Yemeni and one Western source, reported that Trump made no direct pledge of military support during the call. Bawazir did not specify whether the requested support would include direct U.S. strikes; the White House had not immediately responded to NBC’s request for comment.
The Houthis have advanced along Yemen’s Red Sea coast with the stated aim of cutting off the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical waterway for global energy shipments. The group attacked Riyadh over the weekend. U.S. support so far has been limited to intelligence and targeting data; NBC News reported Trump ordered strikes on the Houthis Sunday but canceled the order hours later.
