US admin orders Gaza-linked social media vetting for visa applicants

The Trump administration on Thursday ordered a social media vetting for all US visa applicants who have been to the Gaza Strip on or after January 1, 2007, an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters showed, in the latest push to tighten screening of foreign travellers.

- Agencies

[e-mail] DUBAI/JERUSALEM: Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Friday that the toll from US airstrikes targeting fuel port jumped to 74 people killed and 171 others wounded, one of the deadliest since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants.

The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping.

"The death toll from the American enemy's targeting of the Ras Issa facility has risen to 74 martyrs and 171 wounded in a non-final count," said Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi.

The US military said that Thursday's strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Issa aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthi militant group.

Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis' casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the 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," it had said in a post on X.