US strikes on a Yemeni gas port killed no less than 38 individuals, Houthi rebels mentioned Friday (Apr 18), in one of many deadliest assaults of Washington’s renewed marketing campaign in opposition to the Iran-backed group.
The strikes additionally injured greater than 100 individuals, in response to a Houthi-run tv station that broadcast footage of huge blazes lighting up the evening sky.
The US army mentioned its in a single day assault on the Ras Issa gas port aimed to chop off a supply of provides and funds for the Houthis, who management giant swathes of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation.
“Thirty-eight staff and workers killed and 102 others injured in a preliminary toll of the US aggression on the Ras Issa oil facility,” Al-Masirah TV mentioned, quoting well being authorities in rebel-held Hodeida.
AFP couldn’t independently confirm the casualty toll.
The US army has hammered the Houthis with near-daily air strikes since Mar 15 in a bid to finish their assaults on delivery within the Pink Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Claiming solidarity with Palestinians, the rebels started attacking the important thing maritime routes and Israel after the Gaza conflict started in October 2023, later pausing their assaults throughout a latest two-month ceasefire.
In an announcement, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) mentioned: “US forces took motion to eradicate this supply of gas for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of unlawful income that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorise the complete area for over 10 years.
“The target of those strikes was to degrade the financial supply of energy of the Houthis, who proceed to use and produce nice ache upon their fellow countrymen.”
Ships “have continued to provide gas by way of the port of Ras Issa” regardless of Washington this 12 months designating the rebels a international terrorist organisation, CENTCOM added, with out specifying the supply of the gas.
“EVERYTHING WAS ON FIRE”
In photos broadcast early Friday by Al-Masirah, a fireball was seen igniting off the coast as thick columns of smoke rose above what gave the impression to be an ongoing blaze.
The Houthi TV station later broadcast interviews with survivors of the assault mendacity on stretchers, together with one man with burns on his arms.
“We ran away. The strikes got here one after the opposite, then every part was on fireplace,” one man who mentioned he labored on the port informed Al-Masirah.
US strikes on the Houthis started below former president Joe Biden however have resumed and intensified below President Donald Trump.
