US strikes on Yemen fuel port kill 38, Houthis say
United States strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 38 people, Houthi rebels said, in one of the deadliest attacks of Washington’s renewed campaign against the group.
The strikes also injured more than 100 people, according to a Houthi-run television station that broadcast footage of large blazes lighting up the night sky.
The US military said its overnight attack on the Ras Issa fuel port aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Houthis, who control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.
“Thirty-eight workers and employees killed and 102 others injured in a preliminary toll of the US aggression on the Ras Issa oil facility,” Al-Masirah TV said, quoting health authorities in Hodeida.
AFP could not independently verify the casualty toll.
The US military has hammered the Houthis with near-daily air strikes since March 15 in a bid to end their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Claiming solidarity with Palestinians, the group began attacking the key maritime routes and Israel after the Gaza war began in October 2023, later pausing their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire.
In a statement, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said: “US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorise the entire region for over 10 years.”
“The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen.”
Ships “have continued to supply fuel via the port of Ras Issa” despite Washington this year designating the rebels a “foreign terrorist organisation”, CENTCOM added, without specifying the source of the fuel.
‘Everything was on fire’
In images broadcast early Friday by Al-Masirah, a fireball was seen igniting off the coast as thick columns of smoke rose above what appeared to be an ongoing blaze.
The Houthi TV station later broadcast interviews with survivors of the attack lying on stretchers, including one man with burns on his arms.
“We ran away. The strikes came one after the other, then everything was on fire,” one man who said he worked at the port told Al-Masirah.
US strikes on the Houthis began under former president Joe Biden but have resumed and intensified under President Donald Trump.
The new wave of attacks follows Houthi threats to resume drone and missile launches against international shipping in protest at Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza at the beginning of March and resumed its offensive in the Palestinian territory on March 18, leaving a ceasefire in tatters.
Also on Friday, Israel’s military said it intercepted an incoming missile from Yemen that set off sirens in “several areas”.
‘Commitment to maritime freedom’
Houthi attacks have hampered shipping through the Suez Canal — a vital route that normally carries about 12 per cent of world shipping traffic — forcing many companies into costly detours around the tip of southern Africa.
Trump has vowed that military action against the rebels will continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.
France’s Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday a French frigate in the Red Sea destroyed a drone launched from Yemen.
“Our armed forces continue their commitment to ensuring maritime freedom of movement,” he said on X.
Separately, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that the Chinese satellite firm Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company was “directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on US interests”.
“Their actions — and Beijing’s support of the company, even after our private engagements with them — is yet another example of China’s empty claims to support peace,” she told journalists.
Bruce did not initially provide details on the nature of the company’s support for the rebels, but later referred to “a Chinese company providing satellite imagery to the Houthis”.