US airstrike hits Yemen's Hodeidah Maritime Affairs building amid escalating tensions

The U.S. military attacked the General Authority for Maritime Affairs building at Yemen's Hodeidah Port with airstrikes overnight on Saturday, leaving a trail of destruction as tensions continue to escalate between the U.S. and the Houthis.

Video footage recording the attack shows the structure is severely damaged, with shattered windows, scattered rubble, and parts of the ceiling caved in.

A China Media Group correspondent reported from the western Yemeni city that more than a dozen powerful blasts were heard on Saturday evening, raising suspicions of additional U.S. airstrikes in the area.

The Houthi-run health ministry confirmed that American forces also struck Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and surrounding areas in Sanaa Province on the same night, resulting in at least 10 casualties, including both deaths and injuries.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on Saturday that the group had successfully shot down another U.S.-made MQ-9 drone over Sanaa Province, marking the second such drone reportedly downed by the Houthis within 24 hours.

The fresh violence followed a deadly wave of U.S. attacks on Thursday night that targeted and destroyed the Houthi-controlled Ras Isa fuel port and concrete tanks storing imported fuel, killing at least 80 people and injuring 150 others. It marked the deadliest U.S. raid since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in mid-March 2025.

US airstrike hits Yemen's Hodeidah Maritime Affairs building amid escalating tensions

US airstrike hits Yemen's Hodeidah Maritime Affairs building amid escalating tensions

US airstrike hits Yemen's Hodeidah Maritime Affairs building amid escalating tensions

US airstrike hits Yemen's Hodeidah Maritime Affairs building amid escalating tensions

Even under assumptions that the U.S.-Israel war on Iran does not persist past April and that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz gradually resumes, the world will face the pressure of rising oil prices throughout this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday.

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released on Tuesday, the EIA raised the forecast of Brent crude oil spot price for 2026 to 96 U.S. dollars per barrel from the previous forecast of 79 U.S. dollars a barrel.

Retail gasoline and diesel prices will continue the rising trend this year, said the outlook.

The outlook maintains a risk premium on crude oil prices throughout the forecast period, as the EIA expects uncertainty around future supply disruptions to keep prices above pre-conflict levels.

"Once flows through the Strait of Hormuz resume, we assume it will take time to resolve the backlog and disruption to oil tanker routes and trade flows and that the potential for future disruptions will remain at risk and create a premium in the oil price," it said.

US Energy Information Administration forecasts rising oil prices throughout 2026