ReutersUS air strikes on a key oil terminal on the Red Sea coast of Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement killed at least 74 people and injured 171 others, according to the Ministry of Health managed by the Houthis.
The American army said it had destroyed Ras Isa “to eliminate this fuel source for Houthi terrorists supported by Iran and deprive them of illegal income”.
The government led by Houth in northwestern Yemen said that the terminal was a civilian establishment and that strikes constituted a “war crime”.
It was the most deadly known attack since President Donald Trump ordered an intensification of the American bombing campaign last month in response to Houthi attacks against the Red Sea and Israel linked to the Gaza War.
Several hours after the strikes of Ras Isa, the Israeli army said that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
The sirens resounded in several Israeli zones, but there was no report of victims or damage.
The Al-Masirah TV, managed by Houthi, reported that 14 air strikes hit Ras Isa late Thursday.
Videos published online allegedly showed several explosions, large fires and oil tankers destroyed in the establishment, about 60 km (35 miles) north of the Hudaydah Red Sea.
“We fled.
Thursday afternoon, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health of Houthi, Anees, Al-Asbahi, said that the death toll reached 74 years, adding that the rescue teams still sought victims.
Al-Masirah had previously cited the local health authorities saying that many deaths were Ras Isa workers. He also reported that five paramedical paramedics had been killed in secondary strikes from the United States when they arrived on the scene.
Victims’ reports could not be immediately verified, but the graphic sequences of Al-Masirah seemed to show at least 10 charred bodies near the fires on fire, including a driver, as well as men treated for serious burns in the hospital.
“We say that the targeting of the oil port of Ras Isa is a war crime in its own right, because the port is a civil and non -military establishment,” the government led by the Houthis in a statement.
“We hold the American administration entirely responsible for the consequences resulting from its escalation in the Red Sea,” he warned.
EPA-EFE / REX / ShutterstockThousands of Houthi supporters organized a rally in the capital Sanaa on Friday, condemning the American strikes.
The central command of the American army said in a statement that “the objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of the power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and hurt their compatriots”.
“The Houthis, their Iranian masters and those who knowingly help and ensure that their terrorist actions should be warned that the world will not accept smuggling of fuel and war to a terrorist organization,” he added.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it firmly condemned strikes as “barbarians”.
ReutersOn Thursday, the chief of the Houthis delivered a provocative speech in which he said that the recent American strikes had not stopped their attacks.
Abdul Malik al-Houthi said that the group’s forces had carried out nearly 80 operations involving around 170 missiles and drones since mid-March, including 30 attacks targeting USS Harry S Truman and 26 attacks on Israel.
Yemen was devastated by a civil war that intensified 10 years ago, when the Houthis took control of the northwest of the internationally recognized government and a coalition led by Saudi Arabia supported by the United States intervened in an effort to restore its rule.
The fighting would have left more than 150,000 dead and would have sparked a humanitarian disaster, with 4.8 million people displaced and 19.5 million – half of the population – needing a form of aid.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant ships with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They sank two ships, entered a third and killed four crew members.
The Houthis said they were acting to support the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and often said – that they target ships only linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom.
The Houthis were not dissuaded by the deployment of Western warships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to protect merchant ships last year, or by several cycles of American strikes on military targets commanded by former President Joe Biden.
After taking office in January, Trump redrawn the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization” – something that the Biden administration had suppressed because of what it said is the need to alleviate the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Last month, Trump ordered large -scale strikes on the Houthis controlled areas and threatened that they would be “completely destroyed”. He also warned Iran not to arm the group – something he denied several times.
The authorities managed by Houthis have said that strikes have killed dozens of civilians in recent weeks, but they have been among the group’s members.
Earlier this month, Trump published a black and white video of an aircraft that showed a strike targeting about 70 people gathered in a circle which he identified as Houthis. But the Saba news agency led by Houthi cited a source saying that it was “a social visit to Eid” in the province of Hudaydah.
Israel has also carried out air strikes against the Houthis since last July in retaliation for hundreds of missiles and drones which, according to the Israeli army, were launched in the country of Yemen, most of which were slaughtered.
