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Reported death toll marks one of the deadliest attacks by the US military on Yemen.
Air strikes by the United States on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port have killed at least 33 people in what would be one of the deadliest attacks on the country by US forces, Houthi-affiliated media report.
Al Masirah TV said the strikes early on Friday morning also wounded 80 people, citing the country’s Hodeidah Health Office.
The US military said strikes are being carried out to cut off a source of fuel for Houthi fighters, and Washington has said it will continue to attack Houthi sites in Yemen until the group ends its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
“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,” the US Central Command said in a post on X.
Ras Isa hosts an oil pipeline and port that are “critical and irreplaceable infrastructure” in Yemen, according to the United Nations Development Programme, and around 70 percent of Yemen’s imports and 80 percent of its humanitarian assistance passes through the ports of Ras Issa, Hodeidah and Salif.
The US launched its large-scale campaign against the Houthis last month
Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than100 attacks on the Red Sea – one of the world’s most important shipping lanes – in response to the Israel-Gaza war, according to the open-source intelligence site Geopolitical Monitor.
Houthi numbers have swelled since the Gaza war began, growing from around 220,000 in 2022 to 350,000 at the end of 2024 thanks in part to its anti-Israel stance, the site said.