Pentagon Confirms 153 Civilians Killed in US Military Operations in 2025

Pentagon Confirms 153 Civilians Killed in US Military Operations in 2025

A Pentagon assessment submitted to Congress has formally acknowledged that US military operations killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others in 2025, a sharp increase from the previous year. All documented casualties were linked to three strikes in Yemen during Operation Rough Rider, the US campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The Pentagon has formally acknowledged that US military operations in 2025 killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others, according to a report submitted to Congress on August 10, 2026. The figures represent a dramatic increase from 2024, when the Pentagon assessed that two civilians were killed and two were injured by US military operations. The report was submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee as required by Section 1057 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.

The report found that all civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2025 resulted from three US strikes in Yemen in April 2025. The US Central Command assessed that the three strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm. The strikes were part of Operation Rough Rider, the US military campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia group, aimed at preventing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

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According to the Pentagon assessment, the three deadly strikes occurred at specific locations across Yemen in April 2025. On April 6, a US strike hit a residence near the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killing five civilians and injuring 25. The April 17 attack targeted Ras Isa Port, where the Pentagon assessed that 80 civilians were killed and 171 injured. Human Rights Watch had separately reported a comparable death toll and raised concerns about the attack’s potential violation of international humanitarian law, noting that port workers were among those killed. A third strike near Saada on April 28 killed between 47 and 68 civilians and injured 68, according to the assessment. Amnesty International’s investigation into the migrant detention centre said the attack killed and injured “dozens” of African migrants and should be probed as a war crime.

The military relied on US intelligence, imagery, and public reporting rather than conducting site visits or interviews to make the assessment. As of February 2026, the US Central Command was still assessing 15 other incidents in Yemen following reports received through non-governmental organisations.

The Pentagon assessment stands in contrast to significantly higher estimates from independent monitoring groups. Airwars, an organisation tracking civilian harm in conflicts, reported that at least 258 civilians may have been killed in Operation Rough Rider. The Yemen Data Project documented at least 238 civilian deaths, including 24 children, and 467 injuries across 339 strikes during the campaign. Officials who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity described the 153 figure as “lowball numbers,” with one calling the report “a fucking joke” and a “total whitewash”.

The report notably does not include casualties from US strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, which the Trump administration has carried out against what it describes as “narco-terrorists”. As of February 1, 2026, the US Southern Command assessed that “there were no incidents in which civilian casualties more likely than not resulted from US military operations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility in 2025”. However, independent tallies indicate US military strikes on such vessels have killed more than 200 people since September 2025. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International consider such strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings, and the American Civil Liberties Union has cast the administration’s assertions against those targeted as “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims”.

The disclosure comes as the Pentagon prosecutes a broader military operation against Iran that began in February 2026, and follows significant cuts to civilian harm mitigation programmes. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly overruled top military officials, including then-Central Command chief Erik Kurilla and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, who pushed against slashing the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence and similar initiatives. Hegseth instead reduced personnel working on civilian harm issues from approximately 200 to fewer than 40, with Central Command’s civilian harm team slashed from 10 personnel to just one. The administration’s 2026 budget proposed the “disestablishment” of the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, reducing personnel funding by over $2 million and mission support funding by more than $9.5 million, amounting to roughly a 90 per cent reduction in personnel since March 2025. Congress has since launched investigations into the cuts, with lawmakers accusing the Pentagon of gutting a congressionally mandated effort to reduce civilian harm despite a legal requirement to maintain it. A May 2026 Inspector General report found that the Department of Defense may have violated federal law by defunding and blocking civilian protection efforts.

Pentagon Confirms 153 Civilians Killed in US Military Operations in 2025