US air strikes on Yemen Houthi rebels killed 33 people and injured 80 others, said the media led by Houthi on Friday, which, if confirmed, would mark one of the deadliest days of a campaign launched under the American president Trump who involved hundreds of strikes since March 15.
The strikes have reached the oil port of Ras Isa and were intended to deprive the rebels of “illegal income which financed Houthi’s efforts to terrorize the whole region for more than 10 years,” said the central command of the American army.
“This strike was not intended to harm the inhabitants of Yemen, who rightly want to eliminate the yoke of the Houthi subjugation and live peacefully,” he added. He recognized no victim.
The Al-Masirah satellite news channel of Houthis has disseminated graphic images of the consequences of the attack, showing corpses scattered on the site. He said that paramedical paramedics and port civilians were killed during the attack, which sparked an explosion and massive fires.
On April 9, the US State Department issued a warning concerning oil shipments in Yemen. “The United States will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as Houthis, including the unloading of ships and the supply of oil in the ports controlled by the Houthi,” he said.
A review by the Associated Press revealed that the new American operation against the Houthis under Donald Trump seems more extensive than that under the former president Joe Biden, while Washington only goes to target the launch sites to shoot the classification staff and drop bombs in the cities.
The new air strike campaign started after the rebels threatened to start targeting “Israeli” ships again on Israel’s blocks in the Gaza Strip. The rebels have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, which means that many ships could be targeted.
The Houthis have targeted more than 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones, flowing two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 to January this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The American campaign does not show any signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has also linked its air strikes to the Houthis to an effort to put pressure on Iran on its fast advance nuclear program.
With Associated Press and Reuters
