When U.S. and Israel Bomb the Houthis, Civilians Pay the Highest Price

Mohammed Omar Baghwi was working the evening shift on April 17 at Ras Isa port in Yemen’s northwestern Hudaydah Province when the American military began bombing.

As a manager, Mr. Baghwi, 45, was responsible for a department that filled cooking gas cylinders. He was one of at least 74 people killed during the strike, making it one of the deadliest attacks by the United States on Yemen.

U.S. Central Command said it had attacked the port to “degrade the economic source of power” of the Iran-backed Houthi militant group based in northern Yemen, which controls most of the country. But Mr. Baghwi’s family said he had been just a civilian trying to make ends meet.

“Mohammed and his companions had done nothing wrong,” said Hassan Omar Baghwi, his brother. “They were simply doing their job to earn a living for themselves and their families under extremely difficult living conditions.”

The Houthis have been firing drone and missile strikes at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after it led an attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and to pressure Israel over its campaign in Gaza. The Houthis have also targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea, a vital trade route.

Those attacks have prompted retaliatory strikes from the United States and Israel, which, for the past two months, have regularly bombed Yemen. The American and Israeli governments say the strikes were focused on Houthi leaders and assets, but they have also killed many civilians, destroyed vital infrastructure and deepened uncertainty in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.