Yemen: Saudi-Led Coalition Violates Truce Hundreds of Times
RIYADH (Dispatches) – The Saudi-led coalition forces and their allied militant groups have breached a UN-brokered nationwide truce that took effect in war-ravaged Yemen in April more than 200 times in a single day.
Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network cited an unnamed Yemeni military official as making the announcement on Sunday, saying the violations included reconnaissance missions over several provinces and border areas.
The source said the Saudi-led coalition forces committed truce violations initially with air strikes on citizens’ homes, the positions of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees in the district of Maris in Ad Dali’ and in the northwest and northeast of Hais in al-Hadidah.
The source added that most of the violations took place by intensive shooting and artillery shelling of residential areas and the positions of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees in Ma’rib, Ta’izz and Sa’ada.
The UN-brokered truce between the aggressor coalition and Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement first came into effect in April. The truce has since been extended twice.
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said that the extension, running from August 2 to October 2, included a commitment from the parties to intensify negotiations to reach an expanded truce agreement as soon as possible.
Under the terms of the truce, commercial flights have resumed from the Yemeni capital of Sana’a to Jordan and Egypt, while oil tankers have been able to dock in the lifeline port city of al-Hudaydah.
Moreover, in line with the agreement, the coalition agreed to end its attacks on Yemeni soil and end a simultaneous siege that it has been enforcing against Yemen.
Yemen has, however, reported many violations of the truce by the Saudi-led forces since then.
‘Saudis Plunder Billions of
Dollars Worth of Oil’
Meanwhile, the Yemeni National Salvation Government says the Saudi-led coalition that invaded the impoverished country in 2015, has plundered billions of dollars worth of Yemen’s oil over the past four years.
The government’s Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmad Abdullah Dares offered the information on Saturday during an interview with al-Masirah.
According to the official, between 2018 and July this year, the coalition has stolen more than 130 million barrels of Yemen’s oil. The stolen oil, he added, was worth close to $9.5 billion.
He added that the so-called coalition stole over 18 million barrels of Yemen’s oil, which at an average oil price of 72 dollars per barrel, would amount to 1.3 billion dollars.
Dares said the coalition stole over 29.6 million barrels of Yemen’s oil in 2019 and more than 31 million barrels in 2021, which respectively amounted to 2.3 billion dollars at an average oil price of 77 dollars per barrel and over two billion dollars at an average price of 49 dollars per barrel.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been waging the war on Yemen since March 2015.
The invasion has been seeking to change Yemen’s ruling structure in favor of the impoverished country’s former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly rulers and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement. The Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives.