Yemen’s Defense Minister, Major General Mohammad al-Atifi, said on 5 September during a meeting with the head of the country’s Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, that the Yemeni army and allied forces are prepared for a full-scale confrontation with the Saudi-led coalition.

Al-Atifi made it clear that the Yemeni Armed Forces and the Ansarallah resistance movement have advanced significantly in terms of military capabilities, and are able to “surprise” the coalition if it continues its violations of the truce agreement and its blockade on Yemen.

“Yemen’s armed forces are ready … to get into a full-scale confrontation with the coalition to free every inch of the country’s soil,” the defense minister said, adding that they have reached “advanced levels that will surprise the [Saudi-led] coalition if it does not take advantage of the temporary truce to end its aggression and siege.”

Al-Atifi also said that Yemen is able to respond appropriately to any attack by the coalition, as it has done in the past.

“No breach of the truce will be accepted,” Al-Mashat said during the meeting, emphasizing that the Yemeni people are capable of acquiring their rights and ending the crisis. He also pointed out the necessity to reclaim the country’s oil and gas that has been consistently looted from Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Coinciding with Al-Mashat’s comments, Issam al-Mutawakil, the spokesman for the Yemeni Petroleum Company (YPC), announced on the same day the seizure of yet another fuel ship by the Saudi-led coalition, the Princess Halima vessel, which had been cleared and inspected for entry into Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah.

تحالف العدوان بقيادة أمريكا وبشراكة الأمم المتحدة يواصلون خرق الهدنة المؤقتة ويحتجزون سفينة #الديزل " برنسيس حليمة" حيث انه بعد تفتيشها ومنحها تصريح دخول الى ميناء الحديدة أجبروها أن تتوجه الى منطقة الاحتجاز قبالة سواحل جيزان ،وبذلك يرتفع عدد السفن المحتجزة الى 10 سفن وقود . pic.twitter.com/yDKmvU5kU3

— عصام المتوكل (@YPCSpokesperson) September 5, 2022

The ship was diverted to a “detention area” off the coast of the Saudi port city of Jizan, bringing the current number of fuel ships detained by the coalition to 10, Al-Mutawakkil said via twitter. This seizure represents another blatant violation of the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement, which was extended on 2 August until October.

The latest seizure comes as part of the Saudi-led coalition’s persistent campaign of looting Yemen’s much needed humanitarian fuel deliveries and oil stores across the country’s ports.

Yemeni officials have continuously denounced the coalition’s looting of its natural resources. In July, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Muhammad Taher Anam, warned the coalition that companies and ships involved in the looting of Yemeni oil will be targeted by Ansarallah if the theft persists.