Scores killed in US strikes on Yemen fuel port, Houthis say

The US military said it had destroyed a key Yemeni fuel port as it targets the country's Houthi rebels, who said Friday that at least 74 people had been killed in the strikes and 171 wounded.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel aired graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack, showing corpses strewn across the site. It said paramedic and civilians workers at the port had been killed in the attack, which sparked a massive explosion and fires.

The attack on the Ras Issa fuel port aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Iran-backed Houthis, the US military said.

Washington has hammered the Houthis with near-daily air strikes since March 15 in a bid to end their attacks on civilian shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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The rebels began their attacks in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's army said Friday they had intercepted an incoming missile from Yemen.

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 designating the rebels a foreign terrorist organisation earlier this year, the military command added, without specifying the source of the fuel.

Fireball

The Ras Issa port, a collection of three oil tanks and refining equipment, sits in Yemen's Hodeida governorate along the Red Sea.

The Ras Issa port also is the terminus of an oil pipeline stretching to Yemen's energy-rich Marib governorate, which remains held by allies of Yemen's exiled government. The Houthis expelled that government from Yemen's capital, Sanaa, back in 2015. However, oil exports have been halted by the decade-long war and the Houthis have used Ras Issa to bring in oil.

In images broadcast early Friday by the rebels' Al-Masirah channel, which it presented as the "first images of the US aggression" against the port, a fireball lit up the area around the ships, while thick columns of smoke rose above what appeared to be an ongoing blaze.

Houthi attacks have hampered shipping through the Suez Canal – a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic – forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

The United States first began conducting strikes against the Houthis under president Joe Biden's administration, and his successor President Donald Trump has vowed that military action against the rebels would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.

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On Thursday evening, France's Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 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.

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told journalists Thursday 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 said.

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".

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)