A U.S. airstrike on an important oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed more than 70 people and wounded many others, the Iranian-backed rebel group said Friday, marking a major escalation in the military campaign President Donald Trump launched against the faction last month.
AP reported toda that the overnight strike on the Ras Isa port sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and turned tanker trucks into burning wrecks. It was the first American attack on a Houthi-controlled oil facility in the new U.S. bombing campaign. It also came just before the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, which Washington has linked to its attacks in Yemen.
The U.S. is targeting the Houthis because of the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel.
The port is a major hub for incoming fuel shipments that power areas of Yemen held by the Houthis, and analysts say the airstrike could seriously affect daily life there.
The Houthis, who said the attack killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses strewn about the port and smashed tanker trucks. They denounced the strike as a “completely unjustified aggression.”
“It targets a vital civilian facility that has served the Yemeni people for decades,” the group said in a statement.
U.S. Central Command declined to answer any questions about possible civilian casualties but referred to a statement in which it said “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”
“U.S. 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 terrorize the entire region for over 10 years,” it said in its statement.
A U.S. official said the attack sent a message to those supplying fuel to the Houthis despite sanctions. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
Hours after the U.S. strike, the Houthis launched a missile toward Israel that was intercepted, the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Houthis said they shot down another American MQ-9 Predator drone, which the U.S. official acknowledged.
The port’s strategic significance
The Ras Isa port is a collection of oil tanks and equipment that sits in Yemen’s Hodeida governorate along the Red Sea. It is just off Kamaran Island, which has been targeted by intense U.S. airstrikes in recent days.
Before the Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and sent the government into exile, oil from the country’s energy-rich Marib governorate moved through Ras Isa for export. But since the Houthis don’t control that region, the port now serves as an import hub for gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas that help power those parts of Yemen the Houthis control.
The new U.S. operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than attacks on the group were under President Joe Biden, an AP review found. The new campaign started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid from entering the Gaza Strip.
From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees US$1 trillion of goods move through it. The Houthis also launched attacks targeting American warships without success. – April 19, 2025
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