Washington (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last year killed more than 150 civilians, according to a Pentagon review of the attacks, which comes as concerns rise over civilian casualties during military campaigns under the Trump administration.
The unclassified assessment, obtained by The Associated Press, was sent to Congress as part of an annual report on civilian casualties and reported earlier by NBC News. A Pentagon official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department will submit the report in the coming months but had nothing more to announce.
Civilian casualties from U.S. military operations have drawn concerns, including from lawmakers in Congress, after a U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school in the opening days of this year’s war, killing up to 168 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is said to have slashed the size of an office focused on reducing civilian harm, the AP has reported.
The Pentagon review focused on three airstrikes in April 2025 that were launched during the U.S. campaign against the Houthis. The militants were attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route that leads to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, as well as Israel.
Those strikes targeted hostile forces in or near Yemen’s rebel-held capital city of Sanaa as well as the Ras Isa port, the report said. A total of 153 civilians were killed and 243 were injured.
The strike on the port was the most deadly, killing 80 people and injuring 171 others. It sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and turned tanker trucks into burning wrecks. The Houthis aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses strewn about the port.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said at the time that the "strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”
“U.S. forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years,” U.S. Central Command said in its statement in April 2025.
The command determined that the three strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm, the review said. The information was based on U.S. intelligence sources, imagery and open-source reporting.
It was determined that condolence payments were not appropriate for the three strikes, according to the Pentagon’s review, which did not explain why that was the case.
Such payments may be one of several responses when U.S. military operations injure or kill a civilian, the review stated, adding that they’re not required by law and not an admission of wrongdoing.
Such payments are not unheard of. Following an errant drone strike in Afghanistan that killed 10 people, seven of them children, in 2021, the Pentagon said it was committed to offering condolence payments to relatives.
The U.S. military first launched attacks against the Houthis in 2023, during the Biden administration, after the militants started launching drones and missiles at commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis said the attacks were aimed at stopping Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and supporting the Palestinians, though they occurred as the Houthis tried to strengthen their position in Yemen.
The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthi rebels turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II, U.S. military leaders and experts told the AP in 2024. American fighter jets and Navy destroyers shot down Houthi drones and missiles that were launched at commercial vessels and U.S. warships.
The Houthis now are carrying out a growing number of strikes against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea.
Fears are growing that the renewed violence could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce and open a new front in the Middle East war.
FILE - This photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows medics carrying a wounded man into the hospital after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP, File)
FILE - This photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows medics carrying a dead person after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows a burning oil tanker after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP, File)
MEDINACELI, Spain (AP) — Millions of people crowded cloudless cities and towns in Spain on Wednesday in search of the best views of a total solar eclipse, when the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth briefly plunged parts of the planet into darkness.
The crowds brought lawn chairs, umbrellas and hats as they eagerly awaited the celestial spectacle, which began early in the evening. It was the country's first total solar eclipse in more than a century.
Across a wide band of northern and central Spain and Portugal, millions of people expected to have some of mainland Europe's best views of the eclipse. It also passed over slivers of Greenland and Iceland.
Totality — when the moon completely covers the sun’s light — was expected to last less than 2 1/2 minutes, reaching its maximum duration off Iceland’s west coast. By the time it got to a small patch of Portugal and then to Spain, just before sunset, totality dwindled to a minute or so. The total eclipse then ended over the Mediterranean.
The event unfolded against the backdrop of scorching summer temperatures and wildfires, and Spanish officials rolled out a large public safety campaign.
The eclipse was expected to draw at least an additional half-million visitors, authorities said. Demand for hotel rooms along the path of totality, including in the northern cities of A Coruña, Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela, soared.
In Medinaceli, a Roman-era hilltop town in northeast Spain, sky watchers secured grassy viewing points hours early and crowded restaurants and bars.
“It's the first time in my lifetime that I’ll get to see a total eclipse in Spain,” said 24-year-old physics student Óscar Pérez, who traveled from Germany to the central Spanish town to witness the event. “I’m not sure where the next one is, so it’ll be great to see it.”
The Spanish Interior Ministry said 350 official viewing sites were set up across the sparsely populated interior, often referred to as “Empty Spain.” Authorities limited or restricted access to another 123 sites because of environmental conditions or obstacles that could hinder an evacuation in the event of a wildfire.
Only weeks ago, the most destructive wildfire in Spanish history devoured 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Ávila, in central Spain. Several smaller wildfires remain active elsewhere in southern and central parts of the country.
More than 33,500 law enforcement officers were deployed to observation areas and access points, the ministry said.
“High temperatures, the accumulated dryness of vegetation and the intense pressure on natural areas due to projected travel necessitate extreme preventive measures,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
Much of Spain was on alert Wednesday as temperatures climbed above 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in many areas where the eclipse was observed.
Authorities' top priority was to prevent even a single spark that could lead to a fire, as happened in Ávila in late July. They urged visitors not to light fires, litter or park in areas with dry vegetation.
Special eclipse glasses are essential for safe viewing, even if only a sliver of the sun remains visible. The glasses are made with special filters that block solar radiation that can damage the eyes.
For months, supermarkets, department stores, museums and planetariums across Spain have sold or distributed the glasses, with many pharmacies running out of stock ahead of Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening in downtown Madrid, a long line formed outside a photo shop where a sign read, “We carry eclipse glasses.”
One woman emerged triumphantly and reassured those waiting: “He has boxes and boxes of them!”
Sverre Rud, captain of the MS Spitsbergen, was circling the waters of Rypefjord in eastern Greenland trying to make sure he was perfectly positioned for his 126 passengers to view the spectacle. All day, people came up to Rud to ask if he has nailed the right spot, with no clouds.
“I will do my best,’’ Rud said. “I will pull out my superman powers.’’
The eclipse may have been startling for the passengers, who had been experiencing 24 hours of daylight on a 17-day cruise in locations mostly north of the Arctic Circle.
Suddenly, for two minutes it was dark.
Even so, the mood on the polar ship had been pure anticipation.
“Everyone is very enthusiastic,” Rud said. “When we were down for breakfast earlier, it was almost like a little bit of a Christmas Eve feeling here."
Rooms in Reykjavík, Iceland's capital, averaged more than $1,000 for Wednesday night as Icelanders prepared for their first total solar eclipse since 1954 and the first visible from the capital since 1433.
Prices were roughly double 2025 rates, according to data group Lighthouse Intelligence. Many tourists made bookings years in advance. But cloudy skies prevailed across much of the island.
Authorities expected up to 20,000 additional overseas visitors during an already busy peak tourist period. Iceland is home to fewer than 400,000 people.
The 70-room Hotel Keflavík in the Reykjanesbaer municipality was fully booked, with guests hoping to see around one minute and 45 seconds of totality.
“Eclipse time, of course, has been very demanding, and many people came to us early, like last year,” said hotel owner and manager Steinþór Jónsson.
Jónsson said he had seen nothing like it since 1986, the year the hotel opened, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held their summit in Reykjavík.
“When I opened the hotel, we had Reagan and Gorbachev meeting. It was very hectic here,” he said with a smile. “Besides Reagan and Gorbachev, the eclipse is the biggest.”
Associated Press journalists Teresa Medrano in Madrid; Danica Kirka and Brian Melley in London; and James Brooks in Snæfellsnes, Iceland, contributed.
Beachgoers gather before a total solar eclipse set to begin around sunset, at Puerto de Sagunto beach near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
Members of the "Los Taraos" amateur astrophotography group, set up cameras to shoot a total solar eclipse in Berlanga de Duero, central Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A family from Slovenia watches as the moon moves in front of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Palencia, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Members of the "Los Taraos" amateur astrophotography group, set up cameras to shoot a total solar eclipse in Berlanga de Duero, central Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Members of the "Los Taraos" amateur astrophotography group, set up cameras to shoot a total solar eclipse in Berlanga de Duero, central Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A woman wears special eclipse glasses, as beachgoers gather before a total solar eclipse which is set to begin around sunset, at a beach near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
A man wears special eclipse glasses, as beachgoers gather before a total solar eclipse set to begin around sunset, at a beach near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
People use solar eclipse glasses to look up at the sun ahead of a solar eclipse Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco)
FILE -A total solar eclipse is seen from Arlington, Texas, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Special protective glasses for viewing the sun are stored in a cardboard box at the Hamburg Planetarium on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Hamburg, Germany. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
Jana Timm is holds four pairs of special solar viewing glasses that she bought at the Hamburg Planetarium to safely observe the partial solar eclipse on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Hamburg, Germany. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
A woman wears safety goggles, as she prepares to watch the partial solar eclipse on the SAYAQ Adventure Tower in Munich's Olympic Park, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Felix Hörhager/dpa via AP)
