Yemen's Hodeidah oil products import terminal on fire after Israeli attacks

Yemen's Hodeidah port was still on fire on July 21 after Israeli bombs hit the oil products import terminal overnight as the Israel-Hamas war that has disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November spread to the south of the Arabian Peninsula for the first time.

The Israeli bombs were in retailiation for the July 19 drone attack by Iran-backed Houthis on Tel Aviv, and targeted oil storage facilites at the port as well as oil and natural gas export facilities in Hodeidah, which is located on Yemen's Red Sea coast, according to the local Almasirah Media Network. The blaze may take days to put out, Germany's DW news service reported, citing port officials.

The Houthis vowed a "significant and great" response and said in a statement July 21 they had "carried out a specific military operation" at the southern Israeli port of Eilat. Israel's military said it shot down a rocket over Eilat.

Houthi officials also claimed responsibility for a missile and drone attack on the Liberia-flagged container ship MV Pumba. The Pumba's last port of call was Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 18, and the ship was last observed transiting through the Bab al-Mandab strait in the southern tip of the Red Sea, with a listed destination of Port Klang, Malaysia, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea.

The attacks have raised risk levels for commodity flows in the region as hostilities threaten to spread.

Saudi Arabia had no involvement in targeting Hodeidah, which is 1,800 km from Israel, and "will not allow any entity to violate its air space," the official Saudi Press Agency said on July 21, citing a spokesman for the ministry of defense. The US, which has led a maritime coalition aimed at defending Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, also said it was not involved in the air strike.

The UAE's Port of Fujairah has been the largest supplier of refined products to Hodeidah since 2018, according to CAS data. Imports averaged 7,600 b/d in June -- all of it gasoil/diesel -- compared with 68,600 b/d at the peak in 2022, with the UAE's Jebel Ali the sole supplier.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and India have also been product suppliers to the port. Other products imported include gasoline and naphtha. The port has also been used for humanitarian aid imports, and Israeli officials have said it is also an entry point for Iranian weapons.

The Houthis currently control Yemen's capital Sanaa and most of the north after civil war broke out in 2014. The Houthi fighters have used areas around Hodeidah to send missiles against commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protest the Israel-Hamas war.

On July 18, the US imposed a new batch of sanctions on people and companies involved in trading Iranian oil to help finance the Houthis' ship attacks.