Yemen firefighters struggle against port blaze after Israel strikes

Firefighting teams on Monday, July 22, struggled to contain a massive blaze at Yemen’s rebel-held Hodeida port, days after a deadly Israeli strike damaged oil storage facilities and endangered aid ships in the harbor.

Heavy flames and black smoke spiraled into the sky for a third consecutive day following the strike on Saturday, July 20, said an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent in Hodeida. Firefighters appeared to have made little progress, with the blaze seemingly expanding in some parts of the port, the correspondent said, amid fears it could reach food storage facilities.

The strike on Saturday was the first by Israel on the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country and came in response to a Huthi rebel drone strike that breached Israel’s air defenses, killing one person in Tel Aviv the day before.

High-resolution satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies showed flames consuming a heavily damaged fuel storage area at the Hodeida harbor. Analysis of satellite imagery from Planet by Dutch peace organization PAX showed at least 33 destroyed oil storage tankers, said Wim Zwijnenburg, a project leader with the organization. “We expect (to find) more damage, as not all storage tanks are visible because of heavy smoke” from the fire and burning fuel, Zwijnenburg told AFP.

The fuel depot is run by the Yemen Petroleum Company which said late Sunday that the six people killed in the Israeli strike were its employees. The Huthis say more than 80 others were wounded in the attack, many of them with severe burns.

With black smoke billowing overhead, a funeral ceremony was held on Monday for the victims of the strikes. Their coffins were carried through the streets of Hodeida, flanked by crowds and led by a Huthi marching band. The Huthis, who are fighting Israel as part of a regional alliance of Iran-backed groups, have pledged a “huge” response to the strikes and threatened to once again attack Tel Aviv.

Yemeni port authorities said Hodeida “is operating at its full capacity,” the rebels’ Saba news agency reported. “We are working around the clock to receive all ships and there is no concern about the supply chain and supplies of food, medicine, and oil derivatives,” port official Nasr al-Nusairi said on Sunday. But the US-based Navanti Group said the strikes on Hodeida destroyed five cranes. The attack also decimated most of the port’s fuel storage capacity of 150,000 tons, leaving the Hodeida governorate with an overall capacity of 50,000, the Navanti Group said.

The World Food Programme on Monday told AFP that there had been “minor” damage to a crane on one of its aid vessels in the port and that its fuel storage facility was impacted. The ship “remains operational,” but “all 780,000 liters of fuel stock was likely destroyed,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Yemen country director.

Hodeida’s port is a vital entry point for fuel imports and international aid for rebel-held areas of Yemen, a country where the United Nations says more than half the population relies on humanitarian assistance. “Yemenis living in Huthi-controlled territories are already suffering from widespread hunger, from abuses from Huthi authorities, from a decade of warfare,” Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The International Rescue Committee charity called the port “a vital lifeline for delivering humanitarian aid to Yemen.” “Any impact on this infrastructure jeopardizes the entry of essential goods and hampers aid efforts.”

Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois

Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil.

Découvrir les offres multicomptes

• Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil.

  Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur, téléphone ou tablette).

• Comment ne plus voir ce message ?

  En cliquant sur «  » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte.

• Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici ?

  Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil. Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte.

• Y a-t-il d’autres limites ?

  Non. Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez, mais en les utilisant à des moments différents.

• Vous ignorez qui est l’autre personne ?

  Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe.

Lecture restreinte

Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article

Pour plus d’informations, merci de contacter notre service commercial.