Houthi attacks halt oil exports
English - Monday 31 October 2022 الساعة 03:06 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
The threats of the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - escalated towards the Yemeni government and the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, in light of the stalled negotiations to restore and renew the expired truce, following the Houthis ending the state of calm by targeting oil export ports in areas under the control of the legitimate government.
In this regard, the Houthi militia vowed to launch what it described as "earthquake strikes" against the countries of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, in conjunction with United Nations-led consultations as part of international efforts to renew the armistice in Yemen.
On Saturday, the Minister of Defense of the unrecognized militia government, Major General Muhammad al-Atifi, said that "the countries of the Saudi-led coalition have two options: either a truce and salaries or missiles and marches," referring to the conditions set by the Houthi militia.
The Houthis require paying the salaries of employees in their areas of control, including fighters in the group's ranks, and sharing oil and gas revenues with the Yemeni government, in order to stop attacks on ships carrying Yemeni crude oil.
It seems clear that the Houthi militia is exploiting the international and regional need to prevent any threat to oil facilities, in light of the energy crisis that the world is witnessing, to impose more impossible conditions, which are concessions on the part of the Yemeni government that are difficult to make in the absence of a clear path for negotiations.
After al-Houthi failed to achieve his goals, which he wanted to impose in extending the international armistice, which was suspended in early October, he resorted to using his air war with drones; In an attempt to force the government and the coalition to submit to its recently raised demands, amid international identification with its crimes, observers say.
Earlier, the Houthi militia claimed the attack by drones on the Dabba port for oil export in Hadramout Governorate. A military spokesman said that they had carried out a warning strike to prevent an oil ship, which they described as looting crude oil, and the incident drew international and Arab condemnation over the past few days.
The attack on the Dabba oil port in Hadramout Governorate was not the first of its kind, as the Houthis targeted the ships "Hana" and "Al-Taj Bat Bluewater" anchored in the Radhum port in Shabwa governorate (southeast of Yemen) on October 18 and 19, 2022, without losses, according to a statement for the Yemeni government.
In response to the attack, the Presidential Command Council said that it had taken “a number of firm decisions to deter such criminal attacks,” including designating the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization, and directed the government to implement it immediately, according to a chronic defensive, diplomatic and economic plan to protect the interests of the Yemeni people, threatening to withdraw from the expired armistice agreements and an agreement Stockholm.
The reality on the ground has not changed. The requirements of the collapsed truce are still in force: flights are flowing to Sanaa airport, with two flights per day during the past three days at least, and also fuel ships arrive successively at the port of Hodeidah in the west of the country, raising questions about what after this classification? And what are the next steps?
As for the Houthi militia, it did not stop its threats after the government classification was issued, as it continued to fly its drones over the oil and gas ports in the Hadramawt and Shabwa governorates, amid information that export operations had stopped.
It was noted from the recent attacks that they appeared as a pressure card to support the position of the Houthis in the negotiations to extend the armistice and to obtain new concessions from the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition, and also to strengthen Iran's position in the negotiations of the nuclear agreement.
And between the Houthis' continued threats to launch more attacks on Yemeni oil facilities, and the Yemeni government's warnings to use new options against the militia, the question arises about the extent to which the internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia, has against the Houthi militia.
On October 1, the Houthi militia gave the oil production companies 24 hours to stop their activity, and on the seventh day of the same month, the Greek ship “Maran” threatened to enter the port of Al-Daba, so that the government intervened in its place, the targeted ship “Nisos Kia.”
Earlier, the Yemeni government worked to make an administrative, financial and legal settlement with the oil and gas companies operating in Yemen, and to resume production in some oil fields and sectors located in particular in the governorates of Hadhramaut and Shabwa, southeast of Yemen.
