United States forces struck the Ras Isa fuel port, with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) emphasizing that the strike was not meant to harm the Yemeni people.

The U.S. Central Command confirmed the destruction of Ras Isa fuel port on Thursday, but the “coalition of anti-aggression parties and political forces” responded to the US accusations calling the strike a “war crime” because the port, as they said, “is a civilian facility.”

“The Iran-backed Houthis use fuel to sustain their military operations, as a weapon of control, and to benefit economically from embezzling the profits from the import. This fuel should be legitimately supplied to the people of Yemen,” the US Central Command said in a statement.

The US action, it claimed, was intended to disrupt this revenue and weaken the Houthis’ ability to sustain regional attacks.

“The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” CENTCOM added in its statement.

The statement concluded that “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully.”