The fire and smoke rise next to the vehicles agreed later, what he said to Masirah TV, was an American attack in the port of Ras Isa fuel, Yemen, on this screen of a video released on April 18, 2025. Photo credit: Al-Masirah TV /brochure through Reuters
An American air attack in an important oil port in the hands of the Hutis rebels of Yemen killed more than 70 people and wounded many others, the rebel group backed by Iran said on Friday, which marked an important escalation in the month of the military campaign.
The night attack in Puerto Ras Isa sent mass balls to the wave of sky and converted tank trucks into burning shipwrecks. It was the first American attack in an oil center controlled by Houthi since the United States began its new bombing campaign.
It also occurred just before the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the United States and Iran about the nuclear program that Washington has linked to its Yemen campaign.
The United States is pointing to the hutis due to the group’s attacks against shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global commercial route and in Israel. The hutis are the last militant group in the “Axis of Resistance” Self -Disquisher of Iran that is able to regularly attack Israel.
The port serves as an important center for incoming fuel shipments that feed the areas of Yemen in the hands of the hutis, and analysts say that air attack could seriously affect daily life there.
The hutis, who said that the attack killed at least 74 people and wounded another 171, transmitted graphic images of the sequelae on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses scattered through the port and crushed tank trucks. They denounced the strike as a “completely unjustified aggression.” “It goes to a vital civil installation that has served the Yemeni people for decades,” the group said in a statement.
The US Central Command. Uu. It declined to answer any questions about possible civil victims, but referred to a statement in which “this strike did not intend to damage the people of Yemen.” “US forces, action to eliminate this fuel source for timber terrorists backed by Iran and deprive them of illegal income that have founded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for 10 years,” he said in his statement.
An American official said the attack sent a message to those who supply fuel to the hutis despite the sanctions. The official spoke with Associated Press about the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet made public.
Hours after the United States strike, the Hutis launched a missile towards Israel that was intercepted, said the Israeli army. The sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other places. Meanwhile, the Hutis said they knocked down another American MQ-9 predators drone, who is the renowned United States officer.
The strategic meaning of the port
The Puerto Ras Isa is a collection of oil tanks and equipment that is in the Government of Yemen’s Hodeida throughout the Red Sea. It is right on Kamaran Island, which has been attacked by intense US air attacks in recent days.
Before the Houthis Tok control of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, in 2014 and sent the government into exile, the oil of the Marib’s governorship rich in energy in the country moved through Ras Isa for export. But since the hutis do not control that region, the port now serves as an import center for gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas that help boost those parts of the years the control of the hutis.
A mortal escalation of the Trump Yemen campaign
The new American operation against the Houthi under Trump appears more extensive than the attacks against the group were under President Joe Biden, according to an AP review. The new campaign began after the rebels threatened to start going to the “Israeli” ships on Israel that blocks the help of entering the Gaza Strip.
From November 2023 to this January, the Hutis pointed to more than 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the trade flow through the Red Sea corridor, which generally sees that USD 1 billion goods moves through it. The hutis also launched attacks aimed at American warships without success.
Evaluating the toll of the months The Airstrike campaign has been difficult for the military has not published information about the attacks, including what was attacked and how many people were killed. Meanwhile, hutis strictly control access to attacked areas and do not publish complete information about strikes, many of which have probably directed military and security sites.
The Airstrike de Ras Isa Port is the most fatal attack known so far in the one month campaign. The real cost in Lives is difficult to evaluate, said Luca Nolpa, a senior analyst at Yemen and the Gulf in the location data project and armed conflict events, a group of experts.
“Since they are aiming at civil areas, there are many more victims. But it is also difficult to evaluate how many because the hutis are launching statements of thesis that cover all the victims … or tend to stress to Saida.”
To further complicate the situation are the US strikes that reach military objectives, said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert at the Basha Report’s risk advice firm. An American attack pointed out that Trump highlighted in line with black and white attack images, which could have killed about 70 combatants.
“Although the Hutis said it was a tribal meeting, Neith published any footage or appointed only one occasion, he strongly suggested that the victims were not civilians but affiliated combatants,” said Al-Basha. “However, the night strike in the RAS ISA fuel port marks the first incident of mass of mass that the hutis have recognized and publicized openly.” The AP analyzed the satellite images of the port provided by Planet Labs PBC that showed destroyed oil tanks and vehicles, and what seemed to be the oil with the red sea.
Wim Zwijnenburg, an analyst at the Dutch peace organization Pax, said it seemed that at least three fuel storage tanks had destroyed the leg and that oil had leaked from mooring pipes.
The United States accuses a Chinese company of helping huti attacks
A spokesman for the US Department of the United States, Tammy Bruce, accused a provider of Chinese commercial satellite images, Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd., or “directly supporting the huti terrorist attacks backed by Iran against the interests of the United States.” Duration An informative session with the reporters, Bruce did not prepare in detail. But he acknowledged a report by The Financial Times that quoted anonymous American officials who said the company linked to the popular liberation army has provided images that allow the rebels to point to US warships and commercial ships traveling through the corridor.
Bruce said “Beijing’s support” of the satellite company … “contradicts his claims to be supporters of peace.” In response to a question about the accusation, the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, said Friday: “I am not a family with the situation he mentioned.” However, he insisted that China is seen as countries that “make more efforts conducive to regional peace and stability.” “From the climbs in the situation of the Red Sea, China has played a positive role in reducing the situation,” Lin said. “Who is the promotion of the conversations for peace and the decay of tensions, and who imposes sanctions and pressure?” The company did not respond to the request for comments. The United States Treasury sanctioned it in 2023 for allegedly providing satellite images to the Russian mercenary force to the Wagner group while fighting in Ukraine.
It is not clear if Chang Guang is linked to the Chinese government. The United States government in the past has used the image tasks of US commercial satellite companies to share with allies, such as Ukraine, to avoid releasing their own high secret images.
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Posted on April 19, 2025