Deadly US airstrike on Yemeni oil port escalates Trump's campaign against the Houthis

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. airstrike on an important oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels killed more than 70 people and wounded many others, the Iranian-backed rebel group said Friday, marking a major escalation in the military campaign President Donald Trump launched against the faction last month.

The overnight strike on the Ras Isa port sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and turned tanker trucks into burning wrecks. It was the first American attack on a Houthi-controlled oil facility in the new U.S. bombing campaign. It also came just before the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Washington has linked to its attacks in Yemen.

The U.S. is targeting the Houthis because of the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran's self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel.

The port is a major hub for incoming fuel shipments that power areas of Yemen held by the Houthis, and analysts say the airstrike could seriously affect daily life there.

The Houthis, who said the attack killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses strewn about the port and smashed tanker trucks. They denounced the strike as a “completely unjustified aggression.”

“It targets a vital civilian facility that has served the Yemeni people for decades,” the group said in a statement.

U.S. Central Command declined to answer any questions about possible civilian casualties but referred to a statement in which it said “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”

“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,” it said in its statement.

A U.S. official said the attack sent a message to those supplying fuel to the Houthis despite sanctions. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

Hours after the U.S. strike, the Houthis launched a missile toward Israel that was intercepted, the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Houthis said they shot down another American MQ-9 Predator drone, which the U.S. official acknowledged.

The Ras Isa port is a collection of oil tanks and equipment that 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 in recent days.

Before the Houthis took control of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and sent the government into exile, oil from the country’s energy-rich Marib governorate moved through Ras Isa for export. But since the Houthis don’t control that region, the port now serves as an import hub for gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas that help power those parts of Yemen the Houthis control.

The new U.S. operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than attacks on the group were under President Joe Biden, an AP review found. The new campaign started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it. The Houthis also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.

Assessing the toll of the month-old U.S. airstrike campaign has been difficult because the military hasn’t released information about the attacks, including what was targeted and how many people were 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.

The Ras Isa port airstrike is the deadliest known attack yet in the month-old campaign. The actual cost in lives is hard to assess, said Luca Nevola, the senior analyst for Yemen and the Gulf at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a think tank.

“Since they are targeting civilian areas, there’s a lot more victims. But it’s also difficult to assess how many because the Houthis are releasing these umbrella statements that cover all the victims ... or tend to stress only the civilian victims,” Nevola said.

Further complicating the situation is the U.S. strikes hitting military targets, said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert at the Basha Report risk advisory firm. He pointed to an American attack that Trump highlighted online with black-and-white strike footage, which might have killed about 70 fighters.

“Although the Houthis claimed it was a tribal gathering, they neither released any footage nor named a single casualty, strongly suggesting the victims were not civilians but affiliated fighters,” al-Basha said. “However, the overnight strike on the Ras Isa Fuel Port marks the first mass-casualty incident the Houthis have openly acknowledged and publicized.”

The AP analyzed satellite images of the port provided by Planet Labs PBC that showed destroyed oil tanks and vehicles, and what appeared to be oil leaking into the Red Sea.

Wim Zwijnenburg, an analyst with the 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 U.S. airstrikes continued overnight into early Saturday, with the Houthis reporting them in Yemen's al-Jawf, Sadaa and Sanaa governorates.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, accused a Chinese commercial satellite image provider, Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd., of “directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U.S. interests.”

During a briefing with reporters, Bruce did not elaborate in detail. But she acknowledged a report by The Financial Times that quoted anonymous American officials saying the company linked to the People’s Liberation Army has provided images allowing the rebels to target U.S. warships and commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea corridor.

Bruce said “Beijing's support" of the satellite company ... “contradicts their claims of being peace supporters.”

Responding to a question about the allegation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Friday: “I am not familiar with the situation you mentioned." However, he insisted China is seen as urging countries “to make more efforts conducive to regional peace and stability.”

“Since the escalations in the Red Sea situation, China has been playing a positive role in de-escalating the situation,” Lin said. “Who is promoting talks for peace and deescalating the tensions, and who is imposing sanctions and pressure?”

The company didn't respond to request for comment. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned it in 2023 for allegedly providing satellite images to the Russian mercenary force the Wagner Group as it fought in Ukraine.

It remains unclear whether Chang Guang is linked to the Chinese government. The U.S. government in the past has used images taken by American commercial satellite companies to share with allies, like Ukraine, to avoid releasing its own top-secret pictures.

Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters burn an American and and an Israeli flags during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree speaks at a rally against the U.S. and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Thousands of Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters burn an American and an Israeli flags during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly, anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

This photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows medics carrying a wounded man into the hospital after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP)

This photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows medics carrying a dead person after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows a burning oil tanker after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP)

This photo taken from video released by Al Masirah TV channel shows medics carrying a severely wounded person onto a stretcher after U.S. airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Hodeida, Yemen, Friday, April 18, 2025.( Al Masirah TV via AP)

The defense in Karen Read's second murder case repeatedly sparred Friday with a key witness who was with Read the morning she found her Boston police officer boyfriend dead in the snow, hoping to undermine her testimony.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson tried to suggest that past inconsistencies showed Jennifer McCabe’s testimony couldn’t be trusted. He also suggested that she and several other witnesses coordinated their version of events around the death of John O'Keefe.

Prosecutors say Read, 45, backed her SUV into O’Keefe after dropping him off at a party hosted by a fellow officer in January 2022 and left him to die in the snow. Defense attorneys say she was a victim of a conspiracy involving the police and have suggested he was killed by someone inside the home.

A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse. Read's second trial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene, began April 22 and has thus far looked similar to the first.

On Friday, Jackson tried to convince the jury that McCabe's testimony has shifted over time or she left out key details about the events before and after O'Keefe's death.

McCabe, he said, never mentioned that she called her sister just before O'Keefe was found in the snow — something she denied. The two also sparred over what she told former State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, about a broken taillight on Read's vehicle. Jackson said she told Proctor that it was cracked, while McCabe testified that she "believed I said it was broken and cracked and it was missing pieces.”

After Jackson challenged McCabe about the route she took to the house, McCabe sounded exasperated.

“I was in shock,” she told the court. “So a lot of things from that day are foggy. Certain things, certain details I may have forgotten.”

Jackson responded that “all of your testimony over the last several days is based on that memory that you just described to these jurors, correct?

McCabe then shot back that “there are certain things I’ll never forget.”

Jackson accused McCabe and other witnesses of coordinating their versions of events in the hours and days after O'Keefe died. He brought up a group chat that included McCabe and several others in which they talked about the case and acknowledged listening to a police interview of another witness, Kerry Roberts, who was also with Read and McCabe that morning.

“In the text that we just saw, you were colluding with other witnesses, percipient witnesses in this case through those text messages, were you not?” Jackson asked, prompting McCabe to deny it.

He pressed further, suggesting she listened to Roberts' interview to help shape her own version of events, which McCabe again denied.

The two also sparred over a Google search — “hos (sic) long to die in cold” — by McCabe related to concerns that O"Keefe was suffering from hyperthermia. She pushed back on a suggestion it was done much earlier in the morning of O'Keefe's death. She also insisted it was done at Read's request soon after they arrived on the scene, despite no other witnesses recounting that.

“I stand by that 110%,” she said, when Jackson challenged her account.

Jackson also questioned McCabe's actions once she arrived on the scene, arguing that she should have done more to help O'Keefe. He suggested that she knew the homeowner, Brian Albert, a friend who had been a Boston police officer, could have provided blankets and was trained to provide life-saving treatment.

“You could have walked 25 feet to the front door, walked in the house and screamed for Brian Albert to help you in those precious minutes,” Jackson asked.

McCabe said her focus was exclusively on O'Keefe at the time.

“That would have taken me away from helping John, getting Kerry blankets, giving him compressions,” she said.

During her second day of testimony Wednesday, McCabe recalled a chaotic scene when they reached the house where O'Keefe, 46, was later found lying in the snow. She called 911 to report a body while Read and another friend Roberts tried to warm O'Keefe up and perform CPR.

Read, she said, was running around and screaming so much that police suggested she sit in a police cruiser. The three sat together praying, and McCabe remember Read wondering aloud who would take care of O'Keefe's two adopted children. As O'Keefe's body was moved to an ambulance, Read screamed for Roberts to go check on him and wondered if he was dead.

Then, McCabe testified that she was standing next to a police officer and a paramedic as Read told them “I hit him” three times — corroborating earlier testimony from paramedics.

But Jackson challenged McCabe, questioning why those comments couldn't be found in earlier police reports or in the 227 pages of her grand jury testimony. Instead, Jackson said she told the grand jury that she recalled Read saying to a paramedic, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him? Is he dead? Is he dead? Is he dead?”

“In point of fact, in your entire grand jury testimony, you never said my client said the words I hit him.” he said.

McCabe insisted she had told police what Read said — even if it wasn't in the reports — and that it wasn't in the grand jury testimony because she wasn't asked specifically about it. As for the comments in her grand jury testimony, she said there were many conversations with paramedics and police at the scene.

“'I hit him. I hit him. I hit him,' is just as fresh today as it was three years ago,” she said.

Judge Beverly Cannone, presiding in Norfolk Superior Court for the Karen Read trial in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Paul O'Keefe, brother of the decedent John O'Keefe, sits with his family during Karen Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Karen Read talks with her attorneys during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Karen Read listens during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Peggy O'Keefe, mother of John O'Keefe, looks on during Karen Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Prosecutor Hank Brennan stands in conference before Karen Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Robert Aleesi listens to the witness testimony of Jen McCabe during Karen Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

William and Janet Read, parents of Karen Read attend her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Witness Jen McCabe takes the stand at Norfolk Superior Court during the Karen Read trial in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Alan Jackson, defense attorney for Karen Read, questions witness Jen McCabe during Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Karen Read confers with attorney David Yannetti during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Robert Alessi cross-examines Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert with Celebrite during Karen Read's murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Karen Read listens to testimony during her murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Karen Read speaks to her defense attorney Alan Jackson during her murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert with Celebrite, testifies under cross-examination by the defense during Karen Read's murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Robert Alessi cross-examines Ian Whiffin during Karen Read's murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Karen Read listens to testimony during her murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Libby O'Neill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Karen Read listens to testimony during her trial, Thursday, April 24, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Mass. State Police detective Nicholas Guarino reviews cellular phone logs while testifying during the Karen Read trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Karen Read, center, speaks with defense team during her trial, Friday, April 25, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (Josh Reynolds /New York Post via AP, Pool)

Dr. Garrey Faller reviews the medical record of defendant Karen Read as he testified during her trial, Friday, April 25, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (Josh Reynolds/New York Post via AP, Pool)

John O'Keefe's mother Peggy recounts hearing about her sons death during the Karen Read trial in Norfolk Superior Court at Dedham, Mass., on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Ian Wiffin, a digital intelligence expert, with Celebrite, testifies under direct examination by special prosecutor Hank Brennan during Karen Read's murder retrial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday April 28, 2025. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan questions Ian Wiffin, a digital intelligence expert with Celebrite, during Karen Read's murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court, in front of Judge Beverly J. Cannone, in Dedham, Mass.,Monday April 28, 2025. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

An image of Karen Read's SUV with a damaged taillight which was put into evidence is shown during the Karen Read trial in Norfolk Superior Court at Dedham, Mass., on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

A video from a "Ring" camera at John O'Keefe's home, Karen Read is seen arriving in her SUV to look for O'Keefe with Kerry Roberts and Jennifer McCabe is shown during Read's trial in Norfolk Superior Court at Dedham, Mass., on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Judge Beverly J. Cannone greets jurors as the murder retrial of Karen Read continues, in Norfolk Superior Court, Dedham, Mass., Monday April 28, 2025. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Karen Read listens to the testimony of Cellebrite digital intelligence expert Ian Wiffin, during her murder retrial, in Norfolk Superior Court, in front of Judge Beverly J. Cannone, in Dedham, Mass., Monday April 28, 2025. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)