US President Donald Trump‘s administration has been marked by a surge in air attacks and civilian casualties, as he seeks to reorient US foreign policy to “America First.” According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), the US has carried out 529 air attacks in 240 locations across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa since Trump’s re-entry into office on January 20. This figure is nearing the 555 attacks launched by the administration of US President Joe Biden over his whole term from 2021 to 2025.
Clionadh Raleigh, a professor of political geography and conflict and founder of ACLED, said the increase in air attacks could be attributed to Trump’s pivot away from the soft-power policy of Biden. “The most extreme tool at his disposal – targeted airstrikes – is being used not as a last resort, but as the first move,” Raleigh said. “While Trump has repeatedly promised to end America’s ‘forever wars’, he has rarely elaborated on how. These early months suggest the plan may be to use overwhelming firepower to end fights before they begin, or before they drag on.”
Trump’s top officials have sought to bring coherence to the strategy, with Vice President JD Vance outlining a “Trump Doctrine” that involves articulating a clear American interest, aggressively solving problems diplomatically and using overwhelming military power when necessary. However, analysts question whether Trump’s approach will prove effective in keeping the US troops out of protracted conflict.
Michael Wahid Hanna, the US Program Director at Crisis Group, said Trump’s reliance on air strikes may be due to their “antiseptic” nature, with their toll shielded from public scrutiny. “There are limits in terms of what air power alone can do…That’s just the reality,” Hanna said. Emily Tripp, the director of Airwars, drew a parallel to Trump’s first term, when he surged air strikes, outpacing those of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. “There’s really no reason for there to be such high levels of civilian harm,” Tripp said.
The US strikes on Yemen have resulted in reported civilian casualties, with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch deeming two strikes possible war crimes. The monitor has tracked 224 reported civilian casualties in Yemen from US strikes under Trump in 2025, nearly totaling the 258 reported civilian casualties from US actions in the country during the 23 years prior.
As the Trump administration continues to rely on swift and powerful military strikes, questions remain over the efficacy of this approach in achieving lasting peace. While a tenuous ceasefire continues to hold with the Houthis, the results of the US bombing campaign “have been pretty underwhelming,” according to Hanna. The jury also remains out on whether Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities will lead to a diplomatic breakthrough on Iran’s nuclear programme.