Dubai, United Arab Emirates – American air attacks aimed at the port port Ras Isa Yemen hutis rebels He killed 20 people and wounded another 50, the group said early.
The attacks, confirmed by the central command of the US Army. The hutis backed by Iran launched a missile towards Israel that was intercepted, said the Israeli army, which caused the sirens in Tel Aviv and other areas.
Meanwhile, the war in Yemen internationalized since the United States claimed that a Chinese satellite company was “directly supporting” hutis attacks, something Beijing did not recognize immediately.
The Al-Masirah satellite news channel of the Houthis issued graphic images of the sequels of the attack to Puerto Ras Isa, which shows corpses scattered by the site. He said that paramedical and civil workers in the port had been killed in the attack, which caused a massive explosion and fires.
In a statement, the central command said that “US forces took measures to eliminate this fuel source for huti terrorists backed by Iran and deprive them of illegal income that has financed Houthi’s efforts to terrorize the entire region for more than 10 years.”
“This strike did not intend to damage the people of Yemen, who right away wants to throw the yoke of the hutí subjugation and live peacefully,” he added. He did not recognize any victim and declined to comment when Associated Press asked him about civilians who were killed.
The Puerto Ras Isa, a collection of three tanks of oil and refining equipment, is located in the Government of Yemen Hodeida throughout the Red Sea. NASA’s satellites that track forest fires showed an intense fire early Friday at the site, right next to Kamaran Island, attacked by intense US air attacks in recent days.
The Puerto Ras Isa is also the term of an oil pipe that extends to the Mariab governorate rich in energy of Yemen, which is still retained by the allies of the exiled government of Yemen. The hutis expelled that the government of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, in 2015. However, oil exports have been arrested by the decadienda war and the hutis have used Isa ras to bring oil.
The hutis denounced the attack of the United States.
“This completely unjustified aggression represents a flagrant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and independence and a direct orientation of the entire Yemeni people,” the hutis said in a statement carried by the Saba news agency they control. “It goes to a vital civil installation that has served the Yemeni people for decades.”
On April 9, the United States Department of State issued a warning on oil shipments to Yemen.
“The United States will not tolerate any country or commercial entity that provides support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as hutis, including discharge ships and oil supply in Houthi controlled ports,” he said.
The attack follows Israeli air attacks in the hutis that previously hit the port and oil infrastructure used by the rebels after their attacks against Israel.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the US Department of the USA. UU. Tammy Bruce in an informative session with the journalists accused of Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd., a provider of commercial satellite images, of “directly supporting the huti terrorist attacks backed by Iran in the US interests.”
Bruce did not elaborate in detail, but acknowledged a history of the Financial Times that cited anonymous American officials who say that the company linked to the popular liberation army has provided images that allow the rebels to aim at US warships and commercial vessels that travel through the Red Sea corridor.
“Beijing’s support, by the way, of that company, the satellite company, even after having participated in discussions with them … certainly contradicts their claims to be in favor of peace,” Bruce said.
Chinese officials and the company, known by the acronym CGSTL, could not be contacted immediately to comment. Chinese state media did not recognize the accusation. The United States Treasury sanctioned the CGSTL in 2023 for allegedly providing satellite images to the Russian mercenary force The Wagner Group while fighting in Ukraine as part of the large -scale invasion of Russia.
An AP review He has found that the new American operation against the Hutis appears under President Donald Trump more extensive That the former president Joe Biden, while Washington passes from the launch sites only aimed at shooting classification personnel and launching bombs in the cities.
The new air attack campaign began after the rebels Threatened to start attacking “Israelí” ships Again about Israel, it blocks the help that enters the gaza strip. The rebels have freely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, which means that many ships could be attacked.
The hutis pointed to more than 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones, sink two of them and kill four sailors From November 2023 to January of this year. That has largely reduced the trade flow through the Red Sea corridor, which generally sees that $ 1 billion of goods move through it. The hutis also launched attacks aimed at American warships without success.
The American campaign does not show signs of stopping, since the Trump administration has also linked its air attacks with the hutis with an effort to press Iran about its Nuclear program that advances quickly. A second round of negotiations between Iran and the United States is Because it happens on Saturday in Rome.
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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
