Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has slammed the Saudi-led coalition for failing to renew the UN-brokered truce deal and deteriorating the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
Spokesman of the movement Mohammed Abdul-Salam made the remarks in a phone call with David Gressly, the United Nation’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen.
‘The coalition of aggression is responsible for the failures to [extend] the deal and worsening humanitarian conditions of the nation,’ he said.
‘We maintain our stance on issues such as paying pensions and salaries to public servants and ending arbitrary restrictions on Hudaydah port and Sana’a International Airport,’ he added.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf Abdullah also said on Monday that the other side’s failure to respond to the purely humanitarian demands presented by Sana’a has confirmed, beyond any doubt, its lack of seriousness in moving towards reaching a comprehensive and sustainable peaceful political settlement.
He said the events proved to the world that the Sana’a government’s warnings were valid, and that by the extension of the truce, the Saudi-led coalition intended to bring the country into a ‘state of clinical death’ and make it live in a state of no war and no peace.
The Saudi kingdom and its allies, most notably the United Arab Emirates, have been waging a war against Yemen since March 2015 to reinstall the exiled Saudi-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The military campaign, which has been enjoying unstinting arms, logistical, and political support from the United States, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and turned the entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Back in April, a temporary UN-mediated ceasefire was reached between the warring sides. It was renewed twice for two-month periods.
The truce, however, expired last Sunday amid the war coalition’s constant violations of the agreement and its refusal to properly lift a siege that it has been enforcing against Yemen since the beginning of the war.
The coalition conducted missile attacks and fired artillery shells in various areas in Yemen’s Hudaydah province.
Yemen’s Liaison and Coordination Officers’ Operations Room, which monitors violations of the Stockholm Agreement and ceasefire in Hudaydah, reported that the Saudi-led coalition forces are developing new military fortifications on al-Jabalyah and Hays.
They also reported the flying of 12 Saudi spy drones over aforesaid districts.
According to Yemeni news outlets, armed clashes have erupted in the provinces of Ta’izz and Hudaydah following the truce’s expiration.
Sources reported that last Sunday night violent clashes broke out in the north, east and west of Ta’izz, as well as villages in southern Hudaydah between Ansarullah fighters and the exiled government forces.
On Sunday Yemen warned oil companies to leave Saudi Arabia as the truce came to an end.
Yemen’s Armed Forces put oil companies operating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on notice, warning that they could be targeted as long as Riyadh and its allies fail to commit to a proper ceasefire.
Tweeting on Sunday, the Armed Forces’ spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Yemeni troops were providing the oil companies with a window of opportunity to leave the Saudi and Emirati soils ‘fast.’
‘The warning,’ Saree said, ‘stands as long as the countries that make up the invading American-Saudi coalition refuse to adhere to a ceasefire that allows the Yemeni people to exploit their oil wealth.’
Also last Sunday, Hans Grundberg, the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, confirmed failure of efforts aimed at extending the truce.
‘The UN special envoy regrets that an agreement has not been reached today, as an extended and expanded truce would provide additional critical benefits to the population,’ a statement said.
‘I urge (the warring parties) to fulfil their obligation to the Yemeni people to pursue every avenue for peace,’ the Swedish diplomat was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, in September, the German government approved new arms exports to Saudi Arabia, more than three years after it halted weapons sales to the Persian Gulf kingdom due to Riyadh’s war on Yemen and its role in the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister and vice chancellor, confirmed in a letter to the Bundestag (the German federal parliament) that several deals on arms exports had been approved by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz before his trip to the Persian Gulf region on an energy hunt, according to German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel and the DPA news agency.
The export licenses are part of a joint programme with Italy, Spain and Britain, the letter asserted.
The reports emerged after Scholz returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, where he sought to seal new energy partnerships with the oil- and gas-rich Persian Gulf states.
Der Spiegel reported that Riyadh will be able to purchase equipment and ammunition for Eurofighter and Tornado jets worth 36 million euros ($35.2 million).
The European cooperation project will also supply spare parts for the Airbus A330 MRTT worth 2.8 million euros, according to DPA.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition agreed in March 2018 to prevent arms from being delivered to any country directly involved in the devastating war on Yemen.
Before the ban, Germany did brisk business with Saudi Arabia with an export volume of 450 million euros ($550 million) in the third fiscal quarter of 2017, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
German officials claimed at the time the ban was in line with Berlin’s stance of not exporting weapons to active conflict zones.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Rights groups have criticised the Saudi-led coalition for air raids that have killed thousands of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets, and urged Western governments to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Many international charities have also criticised the failure to extend the truce.
‘The end of the truce is terrible news for the people of Yemen. Millions will now be at risk if airstrikes, ground shelling and missile attacks resume,’ said Ferran Puig, Oxfam’s country director in Yemen.
‘The past six months have brought hope to millions of Yemenis who have seen a 60% decrease in casualties, a significant reduction in violence, more fuel imports and much easier access to essential services and aid. In addition, fewer people have been forced from their homes.’
Before the deadline to extend the ceasefire, a coalition of 44 NGOs had issued an appeal to the warring parties, citing the reduction in civilian casualties and saying the reopening of Sana’a airport and the increased flow of fuel through the disputed Hodaydah port had enabled Yemenis to more freely access healthcare, education and business opportunities.
They said that an extension to the ceasefire could also allow for the clearing of landmines, which have continued to kill and maim civilians, and for farms to be worked.
According to the UN refugee agency, the war between the Saudi-led, pro-government coalition and Houthi rebels has left 73% of Yemen’s population dependent on humanitarian aid and has internally displaced 4.3 million people. There have been more than 13,000 civilian casualties.
Less than half of the UN’s request for humanitarian support has been funded since it was launched in April. Shortfalls forced the UN to cut food rations by more than half in June.
The import-reliant country had also been affected by the halting of wheat exports from Ukraine.
In a report on humanitarian needs released on Sunday, the UN highlighted problems in access to water and sanitation, with only a quarter of people it assessed having clean water sources in their homes, and the same amount not having a latrine.
The report also said 40% of children were not going to school and a third of households had to travel more than an hour to reach any kind of health facilities.
