SANA’A (Dispatches) – The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) says the Saudi-led coalition has confiscated 4 fuel ships and prevented them from reaching the Red Sea port of Hudaydah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis which has been tightly controlled by Saudi Arabia.
YPC spokesman Issam al-Mutawakel said the vessels were impounded in clear disregard for the human suffering of the Yemeni people despite being inspected in Djibouti and holding entry permits from the United Nations, Yemen’s official Saba news agency reported.
He said the confiscated ships include the gasoline ship “Sea Adore”, the diesel ship “Golf Aetos” and the two diesel ships “Princess Khadija and Soprano Sirene.” Mutawakel said the Saudi-led coalition and the UN are fully responsible for the damage resulting from the blockade on Yemen.
He called on the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to force the aggression coalition to release the fuel ships and prevent piracy on them.
In a fresh act of piracy against the besieged Yemeni people, the Saudi-led coalition seized two more Yemen-bound fuel tankers earlier this month and prevented them from docking at the strategic western port of Hudaydah.
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 Mansour 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.