Air strikes by the United States on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port have killed at least 38 people in what is one of the deadliest attacks on the country by US forces, Houthi-affiliated media report.
Al Masirah TV said the strikes on Thursday also wounded 102 people, citing the country’s Hodeidah Health Office.
Video footage shared by Al Masirah TV on social media in the early hours of Friday morning show massive explosions lighting up the night sky across a body of water that was identified as Ras Isa port.
The video then jumps to a 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 Issa 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.
The US military said strikes are being carried out to cut off a source of fuel for Houthi fighters.
“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,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on social media.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the death toll given by the Houthis.
The attack is 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, and about 70 percent of Yemen’s imports and 80 percent of its humanitarian assistance passes through the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and as-Salif.
Washington has warned the Houthis that attacks will continue until the armed movement ceases attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have reportedly launched more than 100 attacks on vessels they say are linked to Israel, a campaign they say is in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.
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