Islam Times - UAE-operated tanker loots over 400,000 barrels of Yemeni crude

Islam Times - A tanker operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reportedly left a port in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwah with 400,000 barrels of Yemeni crude oil, as Abu Dhabi and Riyadh continue to plunder the natural resources of the impoverished country.

A Yemeni official told the official Saba news agency that the Gulf Aetos tanker, laden with more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil, departed Rudum port on Sunday.

The official, who asked not to be named, added that the crude oil cargo is estimated to cost $43.640 million according to international benchmark prices.

He noted that the development falls within the framework of systematic looting of Yemen’s oil reserves and natural resources by the Saudi-led war coalition and its allied Takfiri militants, as well as tight measures aimed at preventing cash flow into the country.

The official went on to describe as “unacceptable” the sale or transfer of shares in any economic sphere of the country by the former Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

He called on the international community and all world bodies to perform their duties and stop the former Yemeni government from tampering with the national wealth of the war-hit country.

The latest looting of Yemeni crude oil comes two weeks after a supertanker left the port of Ash Shihr in Yemen’s eastern province of Hadhramaut with more than two million barrels of looted crude oil worth over $270 million.

Yemeni parliament blasts repeated ceasefire violations
Meanwhile, the Yemeni parliament has strongly condemned the recurring violations of a UN-brokered ceasefire by the Saudi-led coalition.

Yemen’s lawmakers censured the Saudi-led military alliance over its seizure of ships carrying oil products destined for Yemen, calling it a violation of the terms of the truce.

According to a report published by al-Masirah television network, the Yemeni House of Representatives called on the Security Council and the United Nations to oblige member states of the Saudi-led coalition to deposit Yemeni crude oil revenues in the country’s banks, support medical services, pay the salaries of civil servants, and improve public welfare.

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 reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the 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 any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.