Pentagon Reports 153 Civilian Deaths in 2025
PHOTO CAPTION: FILE PHOTO: A fighter plane takes off, said to be, for an operation against the Yemen's Houthis at an unidentified location in this screengrab taken from a handout video released on March 18, 2025. US CENTCOM via X/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 — U.S. military operations in 2025 killed 153 civilians and wounded 243, a U.S. official said Tuesday, citing Pentagon assessments. That compares with a Pentagon assessment of two civilians killed and two injured by U.S. military operations in 2024.
A Pentagon report submitted to Congress and published by U.S. media said all civilian deaths and injuries recorded for 2025 resulted from three U.S. strikes in Yemen. U.S. Central Command assessed that the three strikes, carried out in April 2025, “more likely than not” caused civilian harm.
The report said that as of February 2026, CENTCOM was still assessing 15 other incidents in Yemen following reports submitted by non-governmental organizations. The U.S. military says its operations in Yemen are intended to degrade the capabilities of Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The Pentagon report did not include casualties from U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. As of Feb. 1, 2026, U.S. Southern Command assessed that “there were no incidents in which civilian casualties more likely than not resulted from U.S. military operations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility in 2025,” according to the report.
President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out strikes on vessels it accuses of transporting narcotics in the Eastern Pacific, describing the targets as “narco-terrorists.” Those strikes have killed more than 200 people since September 2025, according to a tally of death tolls released after each strike.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have described the vessel strikes as unlawful extrajudicial killings. The American Civil Liberties Union has characterized the Trump administration’s allegations against those targeted as “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.”
(Source: Reuters)
