US strikes on a Yemeni oil port kill 74 people, Houthis say, in deadliest attack of Trump campaign

DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP U S airstrikes targeting an oil port held by Yemen s Houthi rebels killed people and wounded others the group explained 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 has been incredibly hard as the U S military s Central Command so far has not published any information on the campaign its specific targets and how a great number of people have been killed Meanwhile Yemen s Houthi rebels strictly control access to areas attacked and don t publish complete information on the strikes a great number of of which likely have targeted military and measure sites But the strike on the Ras Isa port which sent massive fireballs shooting into the night sky represented a major escalation for the American campaign by hitting oil facilities for the first time In a comment Central Command commented that U S 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 terrorize the entire region for over years This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully it added It did not acknowledge any casualties and declined to comment when required by The Associated Press regarding civilians reportedly being killed The Iranian-backed Houthis later Friday launched a missile toward Israel that was intercepted the Israeli military explained Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other areas The war in Yemen meanwhile further internationalized as the U S alleged a Chinese satellite company was directly supporting Houthi attacks something Beijing declined to directly comment on Friday And a second round of negotiations between Iran and the U S over Tehran s rapidly advancing nuclear operation which America has linked to the Yemen campaign is due to happen Saturday in Rome US strikes spark massive fireball The Ras Isa port a collection of oil tanks and refining equipment sits in Yemen s Hodeida governorate along the Red Sea It is just off Kamaran Island targeted by intense U S airstrikes over the past meager days The Houthis al-Masirah satellite news channel aired graphic footage of the aftermath showing corpses strewn across the site and smashed tanker trucks ablaze The port also is the terminus of an oil pipeline stretching to Yemen s energy-rich Marib governorate which remains held by allies of Yemen s exiled regime The Houthis expelled that establishment from Yemen s capital Sanaa back in However oil exports have been halted by the decadelong war and the Houthis have used Ras Isa to bring in oil Ras Isa takes in gasoline diesel and liquefied petroleum gas for the Houthis The damage from the strikes could have serious impacts on life in Houthi-held areas of Yemen The Houthis denounced the U S attack as a utterly unjustified aggression It targets a vital civilian facility that has served the Yemeni people for decades the Houthis reported in a message On April the U S State Department issued a warning about oil shipments to Yemen saying it would not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing sponsorship to foreign terrorist organizations such as the Houthis The attack follows Israeli airstrikes on the Houthis which previously hit port and oil infrastructure used by the rebels after their attacks on Israel including Ras Isa Oil depot attack deadliest so far known in Trump s Yemen campaign The attack represented the deadliest known attack so far in the campaign analysts revealed However it s been so tough to assess the fatalities revealed Luca Nevola the senior analyst for Yemen and the Gulf at the Armed Conflict Location Event Records Project Since they are targeting civilian areas there s a lot more casualties but it s also formidable to assess how numerous because the Houthis are releasing these umbrella statements that cover all the casualties or tend to stress only the civilian casualties Nevola reported Further complicating the situation is the U S strikes hitting military targets noted Mohammed al-Basha a Yemen expert at the Basha Analysis threat advisory firm He pointed to an American attack that Trump highlighted online with black-and-white strike footage that may have killed specific fighters Although the Houthis claimed it was a tribal gathering they neither circulated any footage nor named a single casualty strongly suggesting the casualties were not civilians but affiliated fighters al-Basha reported However the overnight strike on the Ras Isa Fuel Port marks the first mass-casualty development the Houthis have openly acknowledged and publicized Chinese satellite firm accused by US of aiding Houthi attacks Meanwhile State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a briefing with journalists accused Chang Guang Satellite Apparatus Co Ltd a commercial satellite image provider of directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U S interests Bruce did not elaborate in detail but acknowledged a statement by The Financial Times that quoted anonymous American officers saying the firm linked to the People s Liberation Army has provided images allowing the rebels to target U S warships and commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea corridor Bruce mentioned Beijing s aid of the satellite company contradicts their alleges of being peace supporters Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responding to a question about the allegation explained Friday I am not familiar with the situation you mentioned However he insisted China is seen as urging countries to make more efforts conducive to regional peace and stability Since the escalations in the Red Sea situation China has been playing a positive role in de-escalating the situation Lin stated Who is promoting talks for peace and de-escalating the tensions and who is imposing sanctions and pressure Chang Guang did not respond to request for comment The U S Treasury sanctioned the company in for allegedly providing satellite images to the Russian mercenary force the Wagner Group as it fought in Ukraine It remains unclear whether Chang Guang is linked to the Chinese establishment The U S establishment in the past has used images taken by American commercial satellite companies to share with allies like Ukraine to avoid releasing its own top-secret pictures US strikes are part of monthlong intense campaign An AP review has exposed the new U S operation against the Houthis under President Donald Trump appears more extensive than that under former President Joe Biden The new campaign of airstrikes started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting Israeli ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip The Houthis targeted more than merchant vessels with missiles and drones sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November until January of this year That has greatly reduced the flow of transaction through the Red Sea corridor which typically sees trillion of goods move through it The Houthis also launched attacks targeting American warships without success Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv Israel contributed to this summary Source