Return of fuel crisis to Sanaa threatens efforts of extending the truce

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Mohammed Ali Saleh parked his car at home on September 5 and decided to tour Sanaa, watching the long line of cars queuing outside petrol stations to fill their cars after the renewed fuel crisis amid the UN-brokered truce that stated the Saudi coalition must allow entry of fuel ships to Hodeidah port.

"I've visited five petrol stations since the morning and this station is not crowded as much as others," said Saleh, a contractor, to Al Mayadeen English near Batco Petrol Station located east of the US Embassy in Sanaa.

"The United Nations is happy watching Yemenis suffering even during its sponsored ceasefire that claims it alleviated our sufferings," said Saleh, 39.

"The UN is in cahoots with Saudi Arabia," he noted. "Saudi Arabia destroyed Yemen and caused the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe."

The Yemen Petroleum Company in Sanaa activated September 4 "an emergency system" as a need to manage the remaining fuel stock after the Saudi coalition prevented the entry of fuel ships into Hodeidah port since August 2.

The company accused the Saudi-led coalition of detaining 10 fuel ships since the start of the second extension of the UN-brokered truce that went into effect on August 2. It confirmed that no fuel ship has entered since that date.

The company said the detention has cost it $11 million as delay penalties for the ships' owners, a thing that is going to raise the price of fuel for the Yemeni people.

On September 4, President Mahdi Al-Mashat launched the "National Resilience Program" at Parliament that was attended by members of the Supreme Political Council, parliament speaker and legislators, PM, and his ministers during which he announced that "if the fuel ships do not enter [Hodeidah port], the members of the Supreme Political Council will be consulted to take the appropriate decision."

'Concession'

Saleh said Saudi scholars keep saying on their channels that "Allah's Messenger said, 'A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.' How many million Yemenis have starved due to Saudi ‘locking up’?!"

"I don't think God accepts this chronic injustice towards the Yemenis. He will curse Saudis and accelerate their punishment at the hand of Yemenis themselves", Saleh told Al Mayadeen English.

"The solution is to reunite Yemeni warring sides and offer each other a concession to alleviate the suffering of citizens", said Saleh. 

"Saudi Arabia and the UN do not want us to live in peace. They want us to continue fighting each other as they watch us".

'Liberating Yemen not fuel ships'

Qayed Zayd, a taxi driver, said it is the first time he waits in a queue to get fuel since the start of the UN-brokered truce on April 2.

"There is a panic from the return of the fuel crisis because this is happening during a truce and only Yemenis suffer alone now, not the Saudis", Zayd told Al Mayadeen English.

Ahmed Abdulrhman, a taxi driver queuing to get fuel, said "there is no panic, nor fears from the return of the fuel crisis caused by the US-Saudi aggression".

"If they [the US and Saudi Arabia] blockade us for another 8 years, Yemenis won't surrender", Andulrhman told Al Mayadeen English. "Yemenis are steadfast and will use force to obtain their rights".

"The UN that expressed its concern over a military parade in Hodeidah but has been silent over detaining fuel ships. This puts its alleged independence at stake. 

"We know the UN follows the US policy and the US policy toward Yemen is supporting the war on Yemen. Therefore, we don't expect the hypocritical UN to do anything but stand with the aggressors against the victims.

"I call on the Ministry of Defence to use its force against the aggressors until the liberation of Yemen, not only to liberate the fuel ships. Saudi Arabia wants us to seek liberating fuel ships and forget liberating Yemen and this won't happen", stressed Abdulrhman.

Setting Aramco ablaze

It was 11h22 am on September 5 when Ayman Al-Dhawi said he had been waiting in the long queue since morning to get fuel from Batco Petrol Station.

"It is a tragedy for the Yemeni people to return to queues in order to get fuel even during the holding fragile UN-brokered truce", Al-Dhawi told Al Mayadeen English while he was sitting inside his car.

"Yemen should use force against Saudi Arabia to free our fuel ships because the National Salvation Government must protect our interests when they become under threat", explained Al-Dhawi. "Our interests are destroyed now, not only threatened".

Al-Dhawi sent a message to the Saudis that they are violating truce provisions given "but it is quite clear that your masters, US and UK, have ordered you to do so."

"If Saudi Arabia won't abide by the truce, Yemen should not be blamed if it decides to set Aramco oil facilities on blaze in retaliation for detaining our fuel ships," noted Al-Dhawi.