HODEIDA: An Israeli strike on Yemen’s Houthi-held Hodeida port has caused at least $20 million in damage, adding to losses due to the destruction of fuel storage facilities, a port official has said.
The July 20 attack on Hodeida, the main harbor under the control of the Iran-backed Houthis, destroyed most of the port’s oil storage capacity and triggered a massive inferno that burned for days.
Nine people were killed in the strike, according to the militia, the first attack ever claimed by Israel on Yemen which came a day after a deadly Houthi attack on Israel.
Speaking to AFP on Sunday from the harbor after operations resumed last week, port official Nasr Al-Nusairi relayed the results of a preliminary damage assessment, saying two cranes were destroyed, a small vessel was burnt and a number of buildings were torched.
“There is also damage to the docks,” said Nusairi, the vice president of the Yemen Red Sea Ports Corporation which runs the Hodeida harbor.
Nusairi estimated the cost of port damage to “exceed $20 million,” noting, however, that the sum does not factor in losses incurred by the destruction of fuel storage facilities which “is the responsibility of the oil ministry.”
The port damage caused a temporary interruption of activities but operations resumed quickly, Nusairi said.
The first two container ships docked in Hodeida three days after the Israeli raid, according to Houthi officials.
The port appeared to be operational on Sunday, with container ships anchored on its docks and workers unloading containers using cranes, according to an AFP photographer who toured the area.
The Houthis have launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, in a campaign they say is to signal their solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Yemen port damage estimated at $20m after Israel strike: official
https://arab.news/6kt5n
Yemen port damage estimated at $20m after Israel strike: official
- Port official Nasr Al-Nusairi relayed the results of a preliminary damage assessment,
- The sum does not factor in losses incurred by the destruction of fuel storage facilities
Thirty four Australians released from Syrian camp holding Daesh affiliated families
- Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children
ROJ CAMP: Syrian Kurdish forces on Monday released 34 Australians from a camp holding families of suspected Daesh militants in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus.
Hukmiya Mohamed, a co-director of Roj camp, told Reuters that the 34 Australians had been released to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. They were put on small buses for Damascus.
Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children.
Thousands of people believed to be linked to Daesh militants have been held at Roj and a second camp, Al-Hol, since the militant group was driven from its final territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian government forces seized swathes of northern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in January, before agreeing a ceasefire on January 29.
The US military last week completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq.
