Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.
Sheikh Qassem: The government’s latest decision [on the disarmament of the Resistance] is non-charter-based, and if the government continues down this path, it is not faithful to Lebanon’s sovereignty.

UN ship arrives to pump oil from Yemen's Safer tanker

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 17 Jul 2023 16:19
3 Min Read

A UN ship is heading to pump oil out from the FSO Safer, which has long been in a state of decay as the Saudi-led coalition had on numerous occasions blocked attempts to repair it.

  • x
  • Safer tanker is seen on Monday, June 12, 2023, off the coast of Yemen. Safer has posed an environmental threat since 2015, as it decayed and threatened to spill its contents of 1.14 million barrels into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
    Safer tanker is seen on Monday, June 12, 2023, off the coast of Yemen. Safer has posed an environmental threat since 2015, as it decayed and threatened to spill its contents of 1.14 million barrels into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. (AP)

A UN-owned ship arrived off war-torn Yemen on Sunday to pump more than a million barrels of oil from the FSO Safer, a Yemeni tanker, to prevent an oil spill. 

After years of a Saudi-backed war on Yemen, the Nautica arrived in Yemeni seas at midday and was set to moor alongside the FSO Safer, a rusting supertanker in the Red Sea. The delicate operation to transfer 1.14 million barrels of Marib light crude to the Nautica, which the United Nations has purchased for the purpose, is likely to commence by the end of the week.

Despite thorough safety checks, there is still anxiety about a spill or an explosion. Safer is transporting four times the amount of oil spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe off the coast of Alaska. “The risk is high.

Read next: UN leads $80m plan to stop huge oil spill off Yemen

The risk is very high,” said Mohammed Mudawi, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) project manager for the ship Safer, adding that “But we are hoping with the completion of the project that this will be eliminated.”

Maintenance operations on the Safer were halted in 2015 amid the war on Yemen and obstructions caused by the blockade; the UNDP has warned for years that a catastrophe might "explode at any time."

Related News

Yemen: 6 martyred, 86 wounded in Israeli aggression on Sanaa

Yemen rallies back Resistance, call for escalation against 'Israel'

That said, a significant spill may cause an ecological disaster, damage Yemeni fishing communities, and force the closure of vital ports and desalination plants. According to the UN, the potential spill, which could cost more than $20 billion to clean up, might reach Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia.

Operation to empty decaying oil tanker: Yemen

Earlier in May, the United Nations was planning to begin the ''preparatory phase'' during the last week of May to discharge 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying ship off the coast of war-torn Yemen to avoid a catastrophic disaster.

UN coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, told journalists in New York via videoconference that a UN vessel, Ndeavor, docked at the port of Al-Hudaydah on Yemen’s west coast.

Gressly stated that a UN team would inspect the entire vessel and initiate safety steps.

''If all goes according to plan, somewhere late June, early July, we might be able to say that that critical phase of the ship-to-ship transfer could be completed,'' stated Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The United Nations had launched a fund-raising campaign to finance this operation, anticipating a total cost of $144 million, which in the second phase includes replacing Safer with a safer and more sustainable solution.

Read next: UN begins rescue operation of Yemen's FSO Safer

  • Yemeni Armed Forces
  • United Nations
  • FSO Safer
  • Yemen

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS