Yemeni rebels say six people were killed in attack on Israeli port, but vow retaliation

The death toll from an Israeli attack on Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeida has risen to six, Houthi health authorities said on Sunday, while the rebel group’s leader threatened an escalation of attacks.

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

Six people were killed and 83 injured, many of them with severe burns, the rebel-run health ministry said in a statement carried by Houthi media. Three people are still missing, it said.

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

On Sunday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the attacks would lead to “further escalation and more attacks on Israel.”

The Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday changed the rules of engagement and initiated “a new phase” of operations against Israel, he added.

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

On Sunday, the Israeli military said 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 said the rebels fired ballistic missiles toward Eilat, the latest in a series of Houthis’ attempts to attack the port city.

The attacks on Saturday destroyed five cranes and reduced the port’s fuel storage capacity from 150,000 tons to 50,000 tons, the US-based Navanti Group said, citing traders.

In Hodeida, firefighters struggled to bring the fire under control on Sunday as thick clouds of smoke hung over the city, an AFP correspondent reported.

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

– “Devastating humanitarian impact” –

The employee, 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 Navanti Group, warning that the fire could also reach food warehouses at the port.

The port of Hodeidah is an important access point for fuel imports and international aid to Yemen’s rebel-held areas.

It remained largely untouched during the decades-long war between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Despite Houthis’ assurances that they had sufficient fuel supplies, Saturday’s strike sparked fears that fuel shortages would worsen.

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

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 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.”