US strikes on Yemeni port kill dozens, huthis say
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The toll could not be independently verified, but the figure could make the US strike one of the deadliest since President Trump began escalating US attacks on the Houthis in mid-March. More than 190 people have been killed since, al-Asbahi said.
US officials have offered little information to the public on recent US operations against the Houthis. The Department of Defense declined to comment on the reported death toll in Thursday's attack.
Since entering office, Trump has ramped up efforts started by the Biden administration to degrade the Houthis, vowing that they will be 'completely annihilated.' Since entering office, Trump has also tightened US sanctions against the group and redesignated the militia as a 'foreign terrorist organization.'
But the increasingly forceful US strikes on the Houthis have yet to deter them from carrying out further attacks. In closed briefings, Pentagon officials have acknowledged that the heavy bombardment has had limited success in destroying the Houthis' vast, largely underground arsenal, according to congressional aides and allies.
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Meanwhile, the Houthis have said they would welcome a greater conflict with the US, their declared enemy.
Experts have also warned that attacking ports like Ras Isa could worsen the already dire conditions in Yemen. The United Nations has described the humanitarian crisis in the country as the world's largest, with about 80 percent of the population in need of essential aid.
The bombing's deadly toll plunged Hodeida into grief, said Manal Ahmad, 35, who lives in the city. She said she personally knew families who had lost loved ones, and social media was full of posts mourning those killed.
'We saw the images of the victims and the extent of the destruction,' Ahmad said in a phone interview. 'What legitimate target are they talking about? Whatever the goal was — if there even was one — I don't think it justifies the number of dead and wounded.'
The Houthis began their attacks on Israel after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, ignited by the Hamas-led attack on Israel. Most of the Houthi projectiles have been intercepted by Israeli air defenses, though a drone attack in July killed a man in Tel Aviv.
The Yemeni militants have also sought to enforce what they claim is a blockade on vessels with Israeli or American ties, menacing merchant ships passing through the Red Sea. In practice, the Houthis targeted ships with no clear connection to either country, upending global shipping and forcing boats to shirk the busy maritime corridor for a relatively little-used route around southern Africa instead.
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In January 2024, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately stop attacking commercial ships. The United States and Britain subsequently began bombarding Houthi targets.
The militia briefly stopped firing rockets at Israel during a two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this year. But after Israel ended the truce in mid-March with a renewed offensive in Gaza, the Houthis resumed firing ballistic missiles at Israeli territory.
Just a few hours after the US strikes, early Friday morning, Houthi militants fired another missile at Israel. Air-raid sirens blared across the country's heartland, instructing many Israelis to head to bomb shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The US military's Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said it had targeted Ras Isa because shipments of fuel were still flowing into the port in defiance of US sanctions, allowing funds to flow into Houthi coffers. It did not provide its own assessment of how many people were killed in the bombardment.
'US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue,' the military said in a statement. '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.'
Hodeida's ports are also the main conduit by which fuel, food, and aid enter impoverished northern Yemen, where more than 20 million people live.
In the past, the UN and humanitarian groups have condemned the targeting of the port as damaging vital civilian infrastructure.
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Saudi Arabia and its allies similarly cited the need to degrade the Houthis when the militia tried to take over Hodeida during their nearly decade-long war against the group.
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The Department of Homeland Security posted a list of 500-plus 'sanctuary jurisdictions' on its website May 29, highlighting cities and counties that supposedly run afoul of its anti-immigrant agenda. Three days later, officials took down the page after an outcry from local law enforcement. Thanks to the Internet Archive, you can still browse the list and read the government's inflammatory rhetoric: 'DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with Federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens.' There's a lot to unpack there — immigrants commit fewer crimes than those born in the United States, for one thing — but let's press on. The point is that my town and county landed on the list. Let's try to figure out why. Back in 2020, the city passed an ordinance protecting undocumented folks. 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They have attorneys on staff or retainer to make sure they don't break myriad legal restrictions. Lawrence followed the law in enacting its original ordinance, and when the law changed, officials followed along. But few want to step out and say such things publicly, given that federal officials have tremendous resources behind them. They could crush any city or county if they wished, through legal bills alone. Thankfully, as mentioned above, sheriffs across the nation pushed back. 'This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation,' said National Sheriffs' Association president Sheriff Kieran Donahue. 'Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label. This decision by DHS could create a vacuum of trust that may take years to overcome.' Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister was similarly outspoken in comments to the Lawrence Journal-World: 'We feel like the goalposts have been moved on us, and this is now merely a subjective process where one person gets to decide our status on this list based on their opinion.' Thanks to the U.S. Constitution and its First Amendment, we are not required to love, like or even respect our government. We are not required to voice support of its goals. We are not required to say anything that we don't want to say about immigration, immigrants or ICE. Republicans understood that full well when Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama were in office. Both faced torrents of criticism on this very subject. Those presidents took the abuse. It was, and is, part of the job. Now President Donald Trump and his anti-immigration minions have to deal with the fact that a different segment of the public vehemently disagrees with their immigration policies. That's OK. That's protected expression. Within the bounds of law, we are also free to define our towns, cities and counties however we want. Accusing local governments of thought crimes desecrates and defames our Constitution. Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
