Positive words on Yemen must be accompanied with actions: Top official

“We are taking heed of such remarks. There is no dispute among the Yemenis, but rather with the US-British-Saudi-Emirati coalition of aggression and their allies. We, therefore, hope the countries that are besieging [Yemen] and spearheading the onslaught will recognize the importance of parties with which meeting can bring peace to Yemeni people. If they are serious about peace, it will be achieved,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Thursday.

Bin Salman, in a television interview broadcast by the Middle East Broadcasting Center late on Tuesday, urged Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement to “sit at the negotiating table” to find solutions that could “assure the rights of the people of Yemen and also the interests of the region.”

He asserted that the Kingdom would not oppose the presence of Ansarullah at the negotiating table.

“There is no doubt that the Houthis (who form the Ansarullah movement) are Arabs at the end of the day, and it is inevitable that they will have to work with their brothers to end this conflict,” the Saudi crown prince said.

Separately, the spokesman of Ansarullah movement, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, tweeted that any positive statement about Yemen hinges upon the practical removal of the siege imposed on Yemeni people.

“Any positive discourse on Yemen depends on the practical lifting of the [Saudi-led] siege and prioritizing humanitarian issues; because they are the critical subjects that meet the demands of the entire Yemeni nation. Such steps will be welcomed as they acknowledge the right path towards peace in Yemen,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam tweeted.

Saudi-led coalition impounds another ship carrying fuel

Also on Thursday, the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC)’s official spokesman, Essam al-Mutawakel, said the Saudi-led coalition had seized a new vessel carrying 23,960 tons of fuel oil.

Mutawakel said the TANGO ship was not allowed to dock at Hudaydah port despite the fact that it had undergone inspection by the United Nations and obtained the relevant papers.

He went on to say that the tanker was loaded with diesel intended for electricity generation.

The Yemeni energy official pointed out that six fuel ships are now being detained by the Saudi-led alliance, including one loaded with fuel oil and five vessels carrying 128,035 tons of gasoline and diesel.

Mutawakel then held the Saudi-led coalition, the United States as well as the United Nations fully responsible for the adverse consequences of such arbitrary practices, stressing they compound the sufferings of Yemeni people.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and other regional allies, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah. 

Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees have, however, gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.

The Saudi-led military aggression has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions of people. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases across the country.