Air strikes by the United States on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port have killed at least 74 people in what is one of the deadliest attacks on the country by US forces, according to the Houthi rebels who are in control of the territory.

The group’s Health Ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi said on Friday that the strikes carried out on Thursday also wounded 171 people. Rescue workers and paramedics were among the casualties.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the air strikes were intended to cut off the Houthis’ source of fuel and revenue.

“Today, US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists,” CENTCOM said on Thursday in a post on social media. “The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis,” it said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed al-Attab, reporting from Yemen’s capital Sanaa, said the US air strikes hit several different areas, but were most concentrated around the port facility.

“The first four air raids were waged while the people were working,” he said. The air raids took employees by surprise, he said, including truck drivers who were on the scene at the time.

The attack drew widespread condemnation across Yemen due to the civilian deaths and the strategic importance of Ras Isa, al-Attab added

Following the strikes, the Houthis announced missile attacks on military sites in Israel and two US aircraft carriers. Israel’s military said earlier on Friday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.

“The American military build-up and continued aggression against our country will only lead to more counter-attack and attack operations, clashes and confrontations,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree told demonstrators gathered in Sanaa to protest American and Israeli actions.

About 70 percent of Yemen’s imports and 80 percent of its humanitarian assistance pass through the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and as-Salif.

Video footage shared by Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV on social media in the early hours of Friday morning shows massive explosions lighting up the night sky across a body of water identified as Ras Isa port. The video then jumps to close-up clips of rubble and fires before panning to a graphic image of a dead civilian.

“Initial footage of the US aggression’s crime targeting the Ras Isa oil port, resulting in a number of martyrs and dozens of port workers and employees being injured,” a caption attached to the post said in Arabic.

Other videos shared by Al Masirah on X show similar scenes of destruction and interviews with badly burned port workers.

The US attack marks one of the deadliest since the US launched air strikes against the Houthis in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since US President Donald Trump took office in January. In March, two days of US attacks killed more than 50 people, Houthi officials said.

Ras Isa hosts an oil pipeline and port that are “critical and irreplaceable infrastructure” in Yemen, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

An Al Masirah TV correspondent said members of the civil defence force and the Yemeni Red Crescent had been dispatched to the scene to provide medical assistance and extinguish fires.

Houthi official Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi told the news outlet that the “American enemy’s crimes” will not deter the Yemeni people from supporting Gaza, but “rather will strengthen their steadfastness and resilience”.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have reportedly launched more than 100 attacks on vessels they say are linked to Israel, a campaign they claim is in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Washington has warned the Houthis that attacks will continue until the group ceases attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Source: Al Jazeera

BDST: 2112 HRS, April 18, 2025
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