Yemen’s Hodeida battles port fire after deadly Israeli attack

On Sunday, fire crews were still battling a fire at the Houthi-controlled port in Yemen’s Hodeidah, just hours after an Israeli attack on the port sparked a massive blaze that killed three people, according to rebels.

Saturday’s attack on the vital port, a key entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid, is the first Israel has claimed responsibility for in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, some 2,000 kilometers away.

Three people were killed and 87 injured, many of them with severe burns, said a statement from the rebel-run health ministry carried by Houthi media.

On Sunday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the “rebel response to Israeli aggression against our country will come inevitably and will be massive.”

Israel said it carried out the attack in response to a Houthis drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one person on Friday.

Further operations against the Houthis would follow “if they dare to attack us,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Following the attack, the Israeli military said on Sunday that it had intercepted a rocket fired from Yemen at the Red Sea resort of Eilat, but noted that “the projectile did not cross Israeli territory.”

Saree, the Houthi spokesman, said the rebels had fired ballistic missiles toward Eilat, the latest in a series of Houthi attempts to hit the port city.

The rebels’ announcement came as firefighters struggled to bring the fire at Hodeidah’s port under control. Thick black smoke blanketed the sky above the city, an AFP correspondent on the ground said.

A port official from Hodeidah said that fuel tanks and a power plant in the port were still ablaze despite “slow” firefighting efforts.

The port worker, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, said it could take days to contain the fire. Yemen experts share this view.

“There are concerns that poorly equipped firefighters will not be able to contain the spreading fire, which could continue for days,” said Mohammed Albasha, senior Middle East analyst at the U.S.-based Navanti Group, warning that the fire could also reach food warehouses at the port.

– “Devastating humanitarian impact” –

The port of Hodeidah, a key access point for fuel imports and international aid to rebel-held areas in Yemen, has remained largely untouched during the decade-long war between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis control large parts of Yemen, including large parts of the Red Sea coast. Due to the war, millions of Yemenis are dependent on aid deliveries via the port.

Despite Houthis’ assurances that they had sufficient fuel supplies, Saturday’s strike sparked fears of a worsening fuel shortage for which war-weary Yemenis are ill-prepared.

The attack will have “devastating humanitarian consequences for the millions of ordinary Yemenis living in Houthi-controlled Yemen,” Yemen expert Nicholas Brumfield said on the social media platform X.

This will not only drive up fuel prices, but also the prices of all goods transported by truck, the analyst said.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which has been fighting the Houthis for nearly a decade, condemned the attack and blamed Israel for worsening the humanitarian crisis.

A statement by the official Saba news agency said the Yemeni government “holds the Zionist entity fully responsible for all the consequences of its air strikes, including the aggravation of a humanitarian crisis.”

The Houthi rebels were also warned against involving the country in “senseless fighting that serves the interests of the Iranian regime and its expansion project in the region.”

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