Yemenis Stage Nationwide Protest Rallies against Saudi-Led Fuel Blockade
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Several Yemeni cities and provinces have witnessed large-scale protests over the Saudi-led coalition's siege of the war-torn country and the seizure of ships carrying essential petroleum products.
Protests were held in a number of provinces on Monday morning, including Sa'ada, Hajjah, Taizz, al-Jawf, Ibb, and al-Bayda, according to Yemen's al-Masirah television network.
Protesters in Sa'ada were spotted waving Yemeni flags and shouting chants condemning the US-backed Saudi invasion and blockade.
The marchers also criticized the UN's inaction on the crimes committed against the Yemeni people by the Saudi-led coalition's member countries.
In a statement, the protesters held Washington fully responsible for the siege imposed on Yemen, stressing that the seizure of the petroleum products is “an American aggression, and confronting it is a legitimate duty”.
They also called the blockade of Hudaydah port a "war crime," and criticized the international community for remaining silent on the issue.
The demonstrators reaffirmed their support for Yemeni forces' retaliatory attacks in response to the Saudi-led aggression.
Similar protests are expected to take place in the capital Sana’a later on Monday.
Last week, Essam al-Mutawakel, a spokesman for the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC), said the Arab country is experiencing the toughest crisis since the start of the Saudi aggression and siege nearly seven years ago.
Yemen’s Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmad Abdullah Dares has warned that the Saudi seizure of ships carrying petroleum products could lead to the suspension of the service sectors and cause “a humanitarian catastrophe."
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies -- including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015. The war was to eliminate Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh. The conflict, accompanied by the tight siege, has failed to reach its goals, but has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people.
The Saudi-led coalition has also imposed an economic siege on Yemen, preventing fuel shipments from reaching the country, while looting the impoverished nation’s resources.
The UN says more than 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger. The world body also refers to the situation in Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.