Alwaght- Saudi regime has not lifted blockade on war-torn Yemen and there is no indication of aid or commerce coming into the country through the key port of Hodeidah, RT Arabic reported.
Two days after Ansarullah fighters in a retaliatory attack fired a missile at Riyadh on 4 November, Saudi Arabia sealed air, land and sea access to Yemen.
Yemen, one of the Arab world’s poorest countries, has been facing a brutal aggression led by its northern neighbor Saudi Arabia since March 2015. Nearly 14,000 Yemenis, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign.
Following a massive outcry from the UN and various aid agencies which warned of a humanitarian disaster, Riyadh agreed to lift the blockade of Hodeidah temporarily on December 20. “The port of Hodeidah will remain open for humanitarian and relief supplies and the entry of commercial vessels, including fuel and food vessels, for a period of 30 days,” the Saudis said at the time.
Two weeks after the announcement, the port remains empty. No merchant or relief vessels are seen anchored at its harbor and no much-needed aid is flowing into the country suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe. The port manager confirmed to RT Arabic that the sea-hub had processed only two vessels that had old permits. The blockade, he said, is till very much in effect.
"If the blockade isn't lifted, we won't be able even to imagine its consequences. Humanitarian organizations have amplified its warnings of the worst catastrophe in the history of Yemeni people," Yahya Sharaf, Deputy Head of the Red Sea Port Authority in Hodeidah, told RT.
Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, noted some "progress" in opening Yemen’s critical Red Sea ports to commercial fuel and food shipments, and announced the allocation of $50 million of aid relief amid ever-growing concerns of a humanitarian catastrophe.
With no ships in sight in Hodeidah, it's hard to convince the locals that aid and hope is on its way. For now, some 4,000 port workers are deprived of any means to survive. Akram Abdo, a supervisor at the harbor noted, "As you can see, the port of Hodeidah is empty, there are no ships at the berths."
"We don't know where to get livelihood. We are on the brink of begging for food. People die from starvation... I have nothing else to say. It's cheaper to die and it's better than living like this," said Ali Dervish hopelessly, another port employee.
Over 75 percent of Yemen's 27 million population, including 11.3 million children, are in dire need of humanitarian aid, the UN said ten days after Saudis had supposedly lifted the blockade. At least 16 million people do not have access to clean water and proper sanitation, while over 60 percent of Yemenis are on the brink of starvation.
