The attack earlier this week, for which the Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility, sparked the latest escalation in Yemen’s grinding seven-year civil war. Within hours, warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that includes the Emirates pummeled Sana, the Houthi-controlled capital, killing about 20 people. And early Friday, further air retaliation from the coalition resulted in at least 82 reported civilian deaths and the internet being cut off for an entire city.
The tit-for-tat carnage underscores the complicated and often deadly calculus facing the U.S. in an ongoing conflict that appears to have only bad options.
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