Saudi-led Coalition Seizes Yemen-bound Fuel Ship Despite UN-brokered Ceasefire

Essam al-Mutawakel, a spokesman for the YPC, said on Thursday that the coalition prevented the ship “Harvest” from entering the strategic Yemeni port city of Hudaydah amid a crippling fuel shortage in the country.

The Yemeni official added that the ship, carrying 29,976 tons of diesel fuel at the time, was seized despite having been inspected and cleared for a port call by the United Nations.

This is not the first time that the Saudi-led coalition has seized Yemeni-bound fuel ships in spite of the truce, which went into effect a fortnight ago at the beginning of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.

The kingdom has maintained a blockade on Yemen, where the population is in dire need of basic supplies such as food and medicine. Riyadh imposed the blockade in 2015, the same year that it began to lead a war on its southern neighbor.

A ceasefire, announced by UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and welcomed by the warring sides, went into force on April 2. The truce stipulates halting offensive military operations and the siege on Yemen.

However, the Yemeni side reported violations of the truce by the Saudis soon after it began.

On April 6, the YPC announced that the Saudi-led coalition had seized a diesel-loaded tanker, called Daytona, and directed it to a southwestern Saudi region.