SANA’A (Xinhua) – A ship carrying cooking gas has been allowed to enter Yemen’s blockaded Red Sea port of Hudaydah as part of the ongoing truce between the country’s fighters and the Saudi-led coalition, al-Masirah TV reported.
The Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen agreed to grant the ship access to the port after having withheld it for more than a week, according to al-Masirah TV.
Last week, the Yemeni army and Ansarullah fighters accused the coalition of having been holding the ship since April 27 despite permission granted by the United Nations.
So far, several fuel ships have arrived at Hudaydah’s port since a UN-brokered two-month truce entered into force on April 2, the television said.
The truce between Yemen and the coalition-backed militants includes allowing the entry of 18 fuel ships into the port of Hudaydah, two commercial flights a week to and from the Ansarullah-controlled Sana’a airport, and humanitarian aid access to the Taiz city.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the U.S. and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemeni military officials say the Saudi-led coalition forces and their allied militants have violated the ongoing UN-brokered ceasefire, which went into effect at the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, hundreds of time.
The officials told Yemen’s official Saba news agency that the violations included 80 flights of Saudi-led military aircraft and reconnaissance drones in the skies over the provinces of Ma’rib, Ta’izz, Hajjah, Jawf, Sa’ada, Dhale, Bayda, ‘Amran and across the borders.
Ansarullah’s political bureau member Ali al-Gahum denounced repeated violations of the ceasefire, saying Sana’a will not sit idly by in the face of these transgressions.
“The Yemeni armed forces have a lot to say in response to the Saudi aggression. The strategic weapon produced by the Yemeni forces can be used in response to aggression and ceasefire violations,” he told al-Ahed News.