DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militants said Friday that the toll from US airstrikes targeting oil port jumped to 74 people killed and 171 others wounded.
The toll from the militants’ Health Ministry in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, reflected the destruction from the overnight strikes that left fuel trucks burning and sent fireballs into the night sky.
The attack is the deadliest known attack in the American airstrike campaign that began Mar. 15 under President Donald Trump.
The US military’s Central Command declined to comment when asked about civilian casualties from the strikes.
Assessing the campaign’s toll has been incredibly difficult as the Central Command so far has not released any information on the campaign, its specific targets and how many people have been killed. Meanwhile, the Houthis 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 terrorize the entire region for over 10 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 asked 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 said. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other areas.
The war in Yemen, meanwhile, further internationalized as the US alleged a Chinese satellite company was “directly supporting” Houthi attacks, something Beijing declined to directly comment on Friday.
US strikes spark massive fireball
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.
The Ras Isa 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 government. The Houthis expelled that government from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, back in 2015. However, oil exports have been halted by the decadelong war and the Houthis have used Ras Isa to bring in oil.
The Houthis denounced the US attack.
“This completely unjustified aggression represents a flagrant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and independence and a direct targeting of the entire Yemeni people,” the Houthis said in a statement carried by the SABA news agency they control. “It targets a vital civilian facility that has served the Yemeni people for decades.”
On April 9, the US State Department issued a warning about oil shipments to Yemen.
“The United States will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports,” it said.
The attack follows Israeli airstrikes on the Houthis which previously hit port and oil infrastructure used by the militants after their attacks on Israel.

GAZA CITY: Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 17 people early Friday including children, hospital workers said, as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.
Among the dead were 10 people in Jabaliya, including eight from the same house, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies. In the southern city of Khan Younis, seven people were killed, one of them a pregnant woman, according to Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The strikes came a day after more than two dozen people died in Gaza as Israel ramps up attacks, pressuring Hamas to return the hostages and disarm.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Friday appeared at the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. Huckabee inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by U.S. President Donald Trump. "Those are his initials, D.T.,“ said Huckabee while showing the note to the media.
In his first act as ambassador, Huckabee said Trump told him to take his prayer and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, he said. Huckabee also said every effort was being made to bring the remaining hostages held by Hamas home. A one-time presidential hopeful, Huckabee has acknowledged his past support for Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel but said it would not be his “prerogative” to carry out that policy.
During his first term, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital over Palestinian objections and moved the embassy from Tel Aviv. Palestinian seek the eastern part of the city that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war as their future capital.
Huckabee's arrival comes at a pivotal time in the 18-month war, as international mediators including the U.S. are trying to get a broken ceasefire back on track.
Israel is demanding that Hamas release more hostages at the start of any new ceasefire and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory. Israel has said it plans occupy large “security zones” inside Gaza.
Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiating delegation, said Thursday the group had rejected Israel’s latest proposal along those lines. He reiterated Hamas’ stance that it will return hostages only in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached in January.
Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. The war has displaced around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.
On Thursday, aid groups raised the alarm over Israel’s blockade of of Gaza, where it has barred entry of all food and other goods for more than six weeks. Thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, the United Nations said.
Israel's Defense Minister says the blockade is one of the “central pressure tactics” against Hamas, which Israel accuses of siphoning off aid to maintain its rule. Aid workers deny there is significant diversion of aid, saying the U.N. closely monitors distribution. Rights groups have called it a “starvation tactic.”