By: Fern Sidman

In a bold and highly strategic escalation of pressure against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Thursday that American forces had carried out precision airstrikes targeting the Ras Isa fuel port, a key financial hub long controlled by the Houthis. The port, located along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast, has been a critical economic artery for the militant group, enabling them to fund terror campaigns across the region through illicit oil revenues.

As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), the objective of the operation was to strike at the heart of the Houthi’s economic infrastructure, curtailing their ability to finance attacks and maintain control over parts of war-torn Yemen. In a statement issued Thursday, CENTCOM emphasized the strategic rationale behind the mission: “Today, U.S. forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years,” CENTCOM said.

For over a decade, the Ras Isa port has served as one of the Houthis’ primary means of generating cash flow. According to CENTCOM and detailed by JNS, the group has embezzled proceeds from oil transactions, diverting fuel meant for the people of Yemen to the black market, with profits funneled directly into terror financing.

Despite mounting international condemnation and the reinstatement of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) status under President Trump, ships have continued docking at Ras Isa, facilitating the flow of illicit fuel and sustaining the Houthi war machine. CENTCOM confirmed that these ongoing transactions defied the FTO designation that took effect on April 5, a move by the Trump administration aimed at reining in the Houthis’ regional ambitions and ties to Tehran.

“Despite the Foreign Terrorist Designation that went into effect on April 5, ships have continued to supply fuel via the port of Ras Isa,” CENTCOM noted in its statement. “Profits from these illegal sales are directly funding and sustaining Houthi terrorist efforts.”

As JNS reported, the latest strike marks a significant departure from the policies of the Biden administration, which had delisted the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization early in its tenure. That move, criticized by regional allies and national security experts, was seen as an attempt to reinvigorate diplomacy in Yemen’s civil war but was widely viewed as a miscalculation after the Houthis escalated cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and more recently, Red Sea shipping lanes.

President Trump’s decision to reclassify the Houthis as a terrorist group, a designation reimposed earlier this month, has given U.S. military and financial institutions renewed legal leverage to strike at the group’s networks, not only militarily but through sanctions and interdictions.

The JNS report emphasized how the Trump administration’s national security strategy in Yemen is taking a more muscular, deterrence-based approach aimed at degrading both the military and economic capacities of Tehran’s proxies throughout the region. In doing so, the U.S. hopes to stem the flow of Iranian arms into Yemen and limit the Houthis’ ability to disrupt international shipping lanes or launch drone and missile strikes at neighboring countries.

CENTCOM’s statement was careful to distinguish between legitimate humanitarian fuel supplies and the illicit trade being carried out through Houthi-controlled infrastructure.

“The fuel should be legitimately supplied to the people of Yemen,” CENTCOM stressed, making clear that the U.S. does not oppose humanitarian assistance—but does object to its exploitation by terrorist organizations.

Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 21 million people in need of aid. However, the JNS report highlighted that the Houthi leadership has consistently used civilian suffering as leverage, hoarding aid, inflating prices, and restricting access to non-aligned populations.

By targeting Ras Isa, the U.S. seeks to deprive the Houthis of the illicit revenue streams that have allowed them to prolong the war and maintain an iron grip over much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

This latest action comes amid rising regional tensions between the United States and Iran’s expanding network of proxies, including not only the Houthis in Yemen but also Hezbollah in Lebanon and various Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

The JNS report contextualized the strike as part of a broader U.S. counterterrorism and deterrence doctrine aimed at constraining Tehran’s ambitions and signaling American resolve to protect maritime commerce and regional allies.

With international shipping in the Red Sea threatened by Houthi aggression and American forces under fire in the region, strikes like the one on Ras Isa are likely to continue unless the group halts its attacks and relinquishes control over key economic assets.

The U.S. strike on the Houthi-controlled Ras Isa fuel port represents a significant escalation in Washington’s efforts to dismantle the financial lifelines of Iran’s most dangerous proxies. With the reimposition of the terrorist designation under President Trump and the adoption of a more assertive military posture, the United States has made it clear that it will no longer tolerate the exploitation of humanitarian aid and commercial shipping to fund terrorism.

As JNS continues to report, the unfolding strategy is not just about Yemen—it’s about confronting Iran’s regional influence, disrupting proxy networks, and reestablishing American deterrence in a region beset by chaos and extremism.