Saudi-led coalition, mercenaries plunder oil in Yemen’s Shabwah: Top official

A senior Yemeni official says Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed mercenaries loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi are plundering crude oil in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwah as the Riyadh regime and its allies press ahead with their devastating war on the impoverished Arab country.

Shabwah Deputy Provincial Governor, Mohammed al-Salehi, said the Saudi-led alliance forces and their allies continue to loot oil from al-Uqlah and Thaba fields in addition to other oil-producing regions through collaboration with a mercenary named Mohammed Saleh bin Adeow, Yemen’s official Saba news agency reported on Saturday.

Salehi added that smugglers are trafficking substantial amounts of crude oil via Nashimiya port every month, steal projected revenues and distribute the money among the Saudi mercenaries.

The high-ranking Yemeni official called on locals to stop the plunder of oil in their regions, and prevent the Saudi-sponsored militants from jeopardizing Yemen’s national interests.

Meanwhile, Yemeni armed forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees have launched clean-up operations in the northern province of al-Jawf after Saudi-led troops withdrew from the strategic al-Khanjar military camp and surrounding areas, leaving behind military equipment, munitions and armored vehicles.

The media bureau of Yemen’s Operations Command Center said in a statement that the operations covered the village of Bir Aziz, which was used by the Saudi mercenaries as a major stronghold to coordinate attacks.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi’s government back to power.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives for more than the past five years.

The Saudi regime has, however, failed to fulfill the objective of its deadly campaign.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.