The "corridors of death" .. Al-Houthi besiege Yemenis on the roads
English - Monday 28 February 2022 الساعة 02:40 pm
NewsYemen, Al Ain News:
Bumpy roads that Yemenis are forced to take on alternative paths closed by Houthi between the port of Aden and Sana'a, but they have become similar to "corridors of death."
These mountain roads are usually described as rugged and unsafe, as trucks cross on very difficult and unpaved slopes, causing many fatal accidents, as well as human and other material losses estimated at hundreds of millions of riyals.
With this deliberate cut, the Houthi militia aims to impose an internal siege for political purposes by exacerbating the humanitarian crisis to invest in international forums, as well as economic gains by forcing businessmen and major importers to return to import through the port of Hodeidah (west) under its control and to earn more money for its war treasury.
Lahj Road.. the slope of death
On a daily basis, amateurs film tragic scenes, one of which shows the overturning of 3 trucks loaded with goods, on a slope that has become known as the "cliff of death" or "the cemetery of trucks", on an alternative route taken by drivers as the only line connecting the liberated south of Yemen to the north, which is mostly subject to the putschists.
This corridor, which has become an essential lifeline despite its danger, is known as the "Al-Qubaita Road", and connects the port of Aden in the temporary capital, passing through the Lahj-Dhamran-Taiz governorate, all the way to Sana'a, the capital kidnapped by the Houthis.
In a video clip, citizens appeared chanting prayers at the moment a truck crossed a steep slope of an unpaved road in Qubaita, which was never intended for heavy transport trucks, before the truck overturned next to the two who preceded it to a painful fate.
The outcome of truck overturning accidents on the "Al-Qubaita" road, especially Mount "Makihel" in the Lahj governorate (south), ranges between 2 and 3 accidents per day, while the number has reached 5 trucks within three days, but the number jumps to 120 accidents of this type since the beginning of The current year, according to unofficial estimates of only one corridor.
The overturning of trucks in this corridor, which is crossed daily by about 300 trucks to transport goods, stops traffic, while trucks and passenger vehicles are suspended for hours.
Due to the narrowness of the road space and its severe congestion, this makes the arrival of cranes to displace overturned trucks and open the road again to traffic more difficult.
Mikhail's transfer contains a dangerous bend, as it did not count the crossing of locomotives and large tankers when making the road. Houthi militias all major transport lines.
A community activist in Lahj, Ali Munasir al-Qubati, says that the Houthi militia's closure of the main roads linking the port of Aden and the capital, Sana'a, prompted transport drivers to take the "Al-Qubaita Road" as an alternative, but most of them are dirt and narrow and cannot cross heavy trucks.
Al-Qabati, who is also a resident of that area, added to Al-Ain Al-Akhbariya that the road has many defects, including the presence of a very large slope, which makes it difficult for cargo trucks to cross, as the severe bend leads to overturning.
This confirms the need for the road to be widened in some places and dangerous curves, and to fill in some of the craters caused by the torrential rains.
Truck Cemetery
A number of trucks appear upside down after leaving the road by several meters as if they were boxes of matches, while the scattered goods were scattered on the sides and below them and dispersed meters away.
These incidents come after the Houthi militia closed the lines linking the port of Aden to Sana’a, including the Al-Dhalea-Ibb road, the Yafa-Al-Bayda road, and the Taiz-Hodeidah road through Saqm.
It also closed the last of those roads, Al-Jarrahi-Ibb, while, years ago, it closed a vital road that was a main supply channel for hundreds of trucks carrying goods to Sanaa daily, which is the Aden-Karsh-Taiz-Sana'a road.
The Houthi blockade, which has caused great suffering to travelers and import traders, aims to force businessmen and major importers to use the port of Hodeidah, which is under its control, instead of the port of Aden.
Truck drivers believe that the absence of the official authorities that are supposed to work on settling these roads, has contributed to increasing their suffering, especially those who transport goods for rent, meaning that they do not follow commercial companies and some of them lost their truck, which was their only source of livelihood.
Loss and suffering
Financial losses during this month are estimated at hundreds of millions of riyals, according to Al-Qubati, especially since many goods were completely destroyed as a result of those accidents in which lives were lost, while transport trucks were severely damaged.
As for commercial companies, they incur significant financial losses, in addition to the fact that the Houthi militias, in their areas of control, impose financial levies that increase these burdens.
During the years that followed the Houthi coup against power in late December 2014, road closures constituted one of the most important crimes committed by the Iranian-backed militias.
This crime prompted civilians to follow rugged, remote and high-cost roads, as well as increasing the risks in accessing them, given their ruggedness and unqualified use.
Those roads, especially in Taiz, the Yemeni governorate that suffered the most, witnessed the death of some patients before they reached medical institutions, as well as fatal accidents caused by overturning transport vehicles.
The worst incidents occurred in that governorate, which is surrounded by Houthi militias from three outlets, as well as raining thousands of shells, with the population relying on the "Hayjat al-Abed" road, as the only and dangerous corridor for millions of residents, and recently the King Salman Humanitarian Aid Center intervened in the task of rehabilitating it.
