The Saudi-Led Coalition Attacks Hodeidah port; EU Urge for an Arms Ban Against Saudi Arabia

YemenExtra

M.A.

Coalition military aircraft carried out on Monday afternoon a series of aerial raids on the district of Tuhitaand the port of Hodeidah in western Yemen.

A local source said three citizens were seriously injured after two brutal air strikes were waged on the port of Hodeidah, pointing out that the aerial raids resulted in severe damage within the port.

The source added that coalition aircraft targeted the Tuhita district with three raids amid intense hovering of the Saudi jets.

The source condemned the resort of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition to target the seaport of Hodeidah, which is considered the only lifeline to the Yemeni people. Such targeting was in a desperate attempt to knee the Yemeni people, who are already suffering from the imposed siege by the countries participating in the war on Yemen for nearly four years in a row since the start of the Saudi military campaign on the impoverished state.

Mohammed al-Houthi, chairman of the supreme revolutionary committee, said that ”Bombing the port of al-Hodeidah is within the plan approved by the Americans.

He added that ”the deliberately bombing the port of Hodeidah after the warning of the Secretary-General of the United Nations is a message of provocation by the Saudi-led aggression,” adding that ” the coalition attack on the port proofs the countries of the aggression are indifferent to famine and not recognizing the role played by the United Nations.”

It is noteworthy to mention that the port includes about 80 per cent of Yemen’s imports, including much of its food, flowed through Hodeidah even before the war broke out in 2015.

The port is basically now the country’s only aid and goods pipeline thanks to a Saudi-led blockade of Yemen’s borders and air space – so any damage to it could cut off crucially needed supplies.

A staggering two-thirds of Yemen’s 28-million-strong population is dependent on aid to survive, and 8 million of those are food insecure.

“Yemen is on the precipice of a full scale famine. A major attack on Hodeidah could act as the catalyst for that,” Save the Children’s CEO, Kevin Watkins, told The Independent.

The source held the Saudi-led coalition responsible for any brutal attacks on the port, such as the bombing and targeting of it, which will cause the biggest tragedy of famine since world war II.

This comes after the Saudi-led coalition failures for over two weeks since its vital offensive on the key port city of Hodeidah, who has owned terrible defeats, where according to the Yemeni spokesman of the Yemeni army, more than a thousand among coalition ranks have been killed and wounded, while hundreds of their vehicles and armored vehicles were destroyed.

The EU parliament summons for an embargo on arms export to the Saudi-led coalition  

Members of the European Parliament prepared a draft resolution calling on EU countries to impose an immediate ban on arms supplied to the Saudi regime and other countries partici[ating in the military campaign against Yemen.

The draft resolution contains a proposal to develop a future mechanism to apply sanctions to EU member states that are not committed to a common position on arms exports.

The foreign affairs committee of parliament approved a draft resolution on arms exports and presented it this week for a plenary discussion at Strasbourg, official media reported.

“The European Parliament considers that arms exports to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen do not meet the criterion, [2] because of the involvement of these countries in serious violations of humanitarian law, as defined by United Nations bodies.,” the resolution said.

The European Parliament “reiterates its call for the urgent need for an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia and calls on the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Defense and the Council to expand this ban upon all the other members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen,” it added.

The sources pointed out that the creators of the draft resolution see “the need to launch a process leading to a mechanism of sanctions on the EU States that do not comply with the common position.” Expressing regret that some members of the European Union have not taken into account the behavior of the intended countries nor the end use of exported arms and ammunition, Which could undermine the European system of full control over weapons. ”

The European Parliament had previously approved a separate resolution calling on the Council of the European Union to develop a common position to impose an arms embargo on the Saudi regime as well as sanctions against it.

Almost all EU countries have exported arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in 2015 and 2016, the report said.

Reports say that 21 EU countries approved licenses for the export of arms, ranging from bullets and bombs to fighter jets and specialized military components in 2015.

They totaled $25.3 billion to Saudi Arabia and $11.4 billion to the UAE. Of this total, $14.4 billion was for aircraft, bombs and grenades, the primary causes of civilian deaths, the MEE reported.

“In 2016, 17 EU countries licensed the sale of even more weapons worth $18.3 billion to Saudi Arabia and $31.7 billion to the UAE, totaling $50 billion,” a report said.

Nothing changed much in 2017, where the arms sales were continuing at the same rate.

Based on UN figures, the EU and some European countries have given $1.56 billion to the UN’s response plan since 2015, which amounted to only 1.8 percent of approved European arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi war has claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis so far.