News brief

U.S. escalates strikes in Yemen. U.S. airstrikes targeting an oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 74 people and wounded 171 others, the group said April 18. It’s the single-deadliest known attack under President Donald Trump’s new campaign targeting the rebels. The strike on the Ras Isa port, which sent massive fireballs shooting into the night sky, represented a major escalation for the American campaign by hitting oil facilities for the first time. A second round of negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, which America has linked to the Yemen campaign, is set for April 19.

The U.S. military first attacked the Houthi rebels in January 2024 in an effort to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea. Even Israel had failed to deter missile attacks from the Houthis.