Fireball, bodies strewn: US strikes in Yemen claim 74 lives

DUBAI: US airstrikes targeting an oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 74 people and wounded 171 others, the group said Friday, marking the single-deadliest known attack under President Donald Trump’s new campaign targeting the rebels.

Assessing the toll of Trump’s campaign, which began March 15, has been incredibly difficult as the US military’s Central Command so far has not released any information on the campaign, its specific targets and how many people have been killed.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels strictly control access to areas attacked and don’t publish information on the strikes, many of which likely have targeted military and security sites.

But the strike on the Ras Isa oil port, which sent massive fireballs shooting into the night sky, represented a major escalation for the American campaign. The Houthis immediately released graphic footage of those killed in the attack.

In a statement, Central Command said that “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 Iranian-backed Houthis later Friday launched a missile toward Israel that was intercepted, the Israeli military said.

The Ras Isa port, a collection of three oil tanks and refining equipment, sits in Yemen’s Hodeida governorate along the Red Sea. NASA satellites that track forest fires showed an intense blaze early Friday at the site just off Kamaran Island, targeted by intense US airstrikes over the past few days.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel aired graphic footage of the aftermath, showing corpses strewn across the site. It said paramedic and civilians workers at the port had been killed in the attack, which sparked a massive explosion and fires.