U.S. airstrikes targeting an oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 74 people and wounded 171 others, the group said Friday, in the deadliest known attack under President Donald Trump’s new military campaign against the Iranian-backed faction. The strike on the Ras Isa port, which sent massive fireballs shooting into the night sky, represented a major escalation in the American effort by hitting oil facilities for the first time. Assessing the toll of Trump’s campaign, which began March 15, has been difficult, as the U.S. military’s Central Command hasn’t released any information, including its attacks’ targets and how many people have been killed. The Houthis, meanwhile, strictly control access to attacked areas and don’t publish complete information on the strikes, many of which likely have targeted military and security sites. In a statement, Central Command said “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 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 from the attack or offer any damage assessment. Hours after the strike, the Houthis launched a missile toward Israel that was intercepted, the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. Yemen’s civil war, meanwhile, further internationalized, as the U.S. alleged a Chinese satellite company was “directly supporting” Houthi attacks — a claim Beijing declined to directly comment on. And a second round of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, 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, which has been targeted by intense U.S. 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 and smashed tanker trucks ablaze. Satellite images of the port from Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by The Associated Press showed destroyed oil tanks and vehicles. Oil also appeared to be leaking into the Red Sea. Wim Zwijnenburg, an analyst with Dutch peace organization PAX, said it appeared at least three fuel storage tanks had been destroyed and that oil had leaked from mooring pipelines. The port also is the terminus of an oil pipeline stretching to Yemen’s energy-rich Marib governorate, which is held by allies of Yemen’s exiled government. The Houthis expelled that government from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014. 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 airstrikes could seriously affect life in Houthi-held areas of Yemen. The Houthis denounced the U.S. attack as a “completely unjustified aggression.” “It targets a vital civilian facility that has served the Yemeni people for decades,” the Houthis said in a statement. On April 9, the U.S. State Department issued a warning about oil shipments to Yemen, […]