The Israeli strike on Yemen’s Houthi rebels-held Hodeida port has caused at least $20 million in damage, adding to losses due to the destruction of fuel storage facilities, a port official has said.
The July 20 attack on Hodeida, the main harbor under the control of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels , destroyed most of the port’s oil storage capacity and triggered a massive inferno that burned for days.
Speaking to AFP on Sunday from the harbor after operations resumed last week, port official Nasr Al-Nusairi relayed the results of a preliminary damage assessment, saying two cranes were destroyed, a small vessel was burnt and a number of buildings were torched.
“There is also damage to the docks,” said Nusairi, the vice president of the Yemen Red Sea Ports Corporation which runs the Hodeida harbor.
Nusairi estimated the cost of port damage to “exceed $20 million,” noting, however, that the sum does not factor in losses incurred by the destruction of fuel storage facilities which “is the responsibility of the oil ministry.”
The port damage caused a temporary interruption of activities but operations resumed quickly, Nusairi said.
The first two container ships docked in Hodeida three days after the Israeli raid, according to Houthi officials.
The port appeared to be operational on Sunday, with container ships anchored on its docks and workers unloading containers using cranes, according to an AFP photographer who toured the area.