More Killings Caused in Yemen by US, Saudi Seizure of Oil Tankers


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Saudi-US war coalition against Yemen continues to cause more killings in the Arab country by seizing ships carrying oil derivatives to the port of Hudaydah.

In a statement on Monday, Yemen Petroleum Company said the coalition is still holding four oil vessels, including two gas tankers.

The coalition continues to detain two oil ships containing 60,000 liters of gasoline and diesel for a period of more than eight months, the company said, according to Yemen’s al-Masirah television network.

“We call for an end to the piracy and the arbitrary conduct of the US-led war coalition countries in their continuous seizure of ships carrying petroleum products and preventing them from entering the port of Hydaydah,” it added.

Yemen Petroleum Company also blamed the coalition countries and the United Nations for the catastrophic consequences of the coalition’s continued piracy. 

“The continuation of seizing ships carrying oil derivatives by the war coalition is a blatant violation of international norms and treaties that criminalize damage to the needs of civilians, and we condemn the dubious international silence on the continuation of this crime,” it said.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating military campaign to reinstall the overthrown government of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in Sana’a and crush the Ansarullah movement.

The war, however, has failed to reach its goals, and instead, killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people and put millions more at risk of starvation.

The Saudi-led war on Yemen has also destroyed much of the poor country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of Yemenis.

Earlier this year, the UN aid chief to Yemen, Mark Lowcock, said 16 million Yemenis are going hungry, with five million on the brink of famine. Lowcock added that Yemen could face the worst “man-made famine” that the world has seen for decades.

In spite of the devastating Saudi-led airstrikes against Yemen, the Western powers, particularly the US and the UK, have continued to sell weapons and military equipment to Riyadh throughout the war.

On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition continued to bomb a number of provinces, injuring civilians and causing damage to public and private property.

The coalition also launched two raids on Madghal and Raghwan districts in the oil-rich Ma'rib province, al-Masirah reported.