UN complicit in US-Saudi act of piracy against fuel tankers: Yemen

The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) has lashed out at US-backed invading Saudi coalition for impounding Yemeni fuel tankers, calling the United Nations "a partner in the maritime piracy."

“The US-Saudi coalition keeps confiscating ships carrying Yemeni fuel under the auspices of the United Nations,” YPC Executive Director Ammar al-Adhrai said.

Al-Adhrai made the remarks on Friday during a protest held outside the UN office in the Yemeni capital Sana'a under the slogan "Denying the siege is an additional crime."

"Since the beginning of 2021, only one ship carrying diesel has been able to enter Hudaydah,” he added, referring to the strategic port that is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

Adhrai warned that the lives of 26 million Yemenis will be at risk if the act of preventing Yemeni fuel vessels from entering Hudaydah continues.

"UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths must return to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that criminalizes acts of piracy. It is also the duty of all the countries of the world to make their utmost efforts to stop acts of piracy against any country …. The United Nations is involved in the maritime piracy," the Yemeni official said.

In mid-March, he announced that the total damage caused by the US-Saudi coalition’s seizure of tankers had reached $34.5 million this year.

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and with arms and logistics support from the US and several other Western countries.

The aim was to return to power the Saudi-backed former regime and crush the popular  Ansarullah movement which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

The war has failed to achieve its goals, but killed tens of thousands of innocent Yemenis and destroyed the impoverished state’s infrastructure.

Fuel shortages have knocked out water pumps, generators in hospitals and disrupted aid supplies across the impoverished Arab country.

UN Security Council partner in aggression: Houthi

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Supreme Political Council of Yemen, also denounced a recent statement by the UN Security Council that blamed the escalation in Ma’rib on the National Salvation Government.

He said the statement shows that the council lacks an honest approach towards the Yemen conflict, adding the 15-member body is a partner in the Saudi aggression against the Arab country.

Members of the Saudi-led coalition and the Security Council are to blame for the famine in Yemen, Houthi noted.

Saudi attacks rage on

Al-Masirah TV channel reported on Friday that Saudi warplanes had bombarded Sirwah and Medghal districts in Yemen’s central Ma’rib province at least three times during the day.

Similar airstrikes hit Baqim and Khabb wa ash Sha'af districts situated in the provinces of Sa’ada and Jawf, respectively.

Saudi artillery forces also targeted areas in Hudaydah province.

Saudi Arabia had violated the Hudaydah ceasefire 219 times in the past 24 hours, according to the report.

Yemeni army troops and allied fighters form Popular Committees managed to thwart an offensive by Saudi-affiliated mercenaries in Taʿizz province, killing and injuring a number of them in the operation.

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