US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 38, Houthi media say

US strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 38 people, Houthi rebels said Friday (Apr 18), in one of the deadliest attacks of Washington’s renewed campaign against the Iran-backed group.

The strikes also injured more than 100 people, according to a Houthi-run television station that broadcast footage of large blazes lighting up the night sky.

The US military said its overnight attack on the Ras Issa fuel port aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Houthis, who control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.

“Thirty-eight workers and employees killed and 102 others injured in a preliminary toll of the US aggression on the Ras Issa oil facility,” Al-Masirah TV said, quoting health authorities in rebel-held Hodeida.

AFP could not independently verify the casualty toll.

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

Claiming solidarity with Palestinians, the rebels began attacking the key maritime routes and Israel after the Gaza war began in October 2023, later pausing their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire.

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

“EVERYTHING WAS ON FIRE”

In images broadcast early Friday by Al-Masirah, a fireball was seen igniting off the coast as thick columns of smoke rose above what appeared to be an ongoing blaze.

The Houthi TV station later broadcast interviews with survivors of the attack lying on stretchers, including one man with burns on his arms.

“We ran away. The strikes came one after the other, then everything was on fire,” one man who said he worked at the port told Al-Masirah.

US strikes on the Houthis began under former president Joe Biden but have resumed and intensified under President Donald Trump.