DUBAI, April 18. /TASS/. At least 74 people were killed and over 170 injured by the US airstrikes on Thursday evening at the Ras Isa oil port in Yemen's Hodeidah province, the Health Ministry of the Ansar Allah-led government said.

"According to preliminary data, the death toll from the US strike on the Ras Isa port has risen to 74 people, and 171 more were injured. Ambulance and civil defense rescue teams continue to search for the missing and wounded," the ministry said in a statement.

On April 17, the United States launched a massive strike on the Ras Isa oil port, located on the shores of the Red Sea in the Houthi-controlled province of Hodeidah. The US army said the port, without which the rebels would lose "illegal income" from the sale of petroleum products and access to fuel, was destroyed. The Houthi government insists that the oil terminal is a civilian facility, accusing the United States of committing a war crime.

After escalation of the conflict in Gaza in 2023, the Houthis warned that they would shell Israel and would not allow ships associated with it to pass through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The attacks stopped after the introduction of a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave in mid-January. After the breakdown of the truce in early March, the rebels resumed attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea, and attempted to attack targets in Israel with rockets.

On March 15, the United States, on the orders of President Donald Trump, began massive strikes against the targets of Houthis that control about a third of Yemen's territory. According to the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, the operation is aimed at protecting American interests and ensuring freedom of navigation. In response, the Ansar Allah movement launched a series of attacks on the American aircraft carrier Harry Truman in the northern part of the Red Sea, using missiles and drones. There was no information about damage to the vessel from the strikes.