Ansarallah supporters raise placards during a protest against the blockade imposed on their country by the Saudi coalition, in the capital, Sanaa, on 26 February, 2021. (Photo credit: Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)
The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) announced on 6 May that the Saudi-led coalition had seized another emergency fuel shipment headed for Yemen’s port of Hodeidah.
YPC spokesperson Issam Yahya al-Mutawake said via Twitter that “the coalition of aggression led by America had seized the ship, Princess Khadija, in a new violation of the [UN-sponsored] truce.”
في خرقٍ جديد للهدنه المعلن عنها تحالف العدوان بقيادة أمريكا يحتجز سفينة #الديزل "برنسس خديجة 29,226 طن" بالرغم من تفتيشها وحصولها على تصاريح دخول من الأمم المتحدة والتي عجزت في إدخال سفن تحمل طابع انساني سواء قبل الهدنة المُعلن عنها أو أثناءها . pic.twitter.com/lggU2mPgGa
— عصام المتوكل (@YPCSpokesperson) May 6, 2022
Al-Mutawake added that the ship, carrying 29,226 tons of diesel, was seized by Riyadh despite having passed inspection and obtained clearance from the UN.
Since the announcement of the truce agreement at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Saudi-led coalition has impounded several humanitarian shipments headed for the war-torn nation.
However, a few of the ships seized by Riyadh have been allowed to enter Yemeni waters after prolonged delays.
Yemen – West Asia’s poorest nation – has been facing an acute humanitarian situation since 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its regional allies invaded the country with the aim of overthrowing the Ansarallah resistance movement from power.
The resultant war has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more. On 5 April, the director general of the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center revealed that Riyadh had dropped more than three million cluster bombs on Yemen.
The situation has been worsened by the illegal air and sea blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition. The blockade has severely restricted the entry of humanitarian aid and essential goods, such as fuel and food, into the country, and has caused what the UN calls “one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.”