US military operations killed 153 civilians in 2025, Pentagon assessment says
US military operations killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 in 2025, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, citing Pentagon assessments, marking a sharp rise from the civilian casualties recorded in 2024.
According to a Pentagon report submitted to the U.S. Congress and published by U.S. media, all civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2025 resulted from three U.S. strikes in Yemen in April.
The U.S. Central Command assessed that the three strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm, the report said.
The Pentagon had assessed that U.S. military operations killed two civilians and injured two others in 2024.
The report also said that, as of February 2026, the U.S. Central Command was assessing 15 other incidents in Yemen following reports received through non-governmental organizations.
The U.S. military has said its operations in Yemen are aimed at degrading the capabilities of Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The Pentagon assessment did not include casualties from U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. As of February 1, 2026, the 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.”
The Trump administration has carried out strikes against vessels it accuses of transporting narcotics in the Eastern Pacific, describing those targeted as “narco-terrorists.”
Those strikes have killed more than 200 people since September 2025, according to a tally of death tolls published after each strike.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International consider the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings. The American Civil Liberties Union has described the Trump administration’s assertions about those targeted as “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.”
AGENCIES
