Saudi-led Coalition continues targeting UN`s employees and supplies in Yemen

A.Abdulkareem

A humanitarian aid vessel used by the UN’s World Food Program (WFP),which is delivering humanitarian aid to the Yemeni port of Hodeida, was Saudi attacked after delivering a shipment at Hodeida western Yemen

Yemen’s Red Sea Ports Corporation said in a statement issued on Monday ““The vessel traffic office received a distress call from the VOS THEIA at 1730 (1430 GMT) on Sunday, June 3, 2018 about a fire in the vessel resulting from an external attack

The statement added that the ship was waiting in anchorage for permission to leave when it came under attack .Although it would not elaborate on who might have launched the attack

“There was an incident … We don’t know who’s responsible. We’re investigating and the incident is over,” said The UN’s aid chief, Mark Lowcock said, however, that no one was injured and the situation was calm now

The UN official, however, criticized anyone seeking to disrupt the humanitarian aid delivery in Hudaydah, a port which handles the bulk of Yemen’s commercial imports and aid supplies and is regarded as a lifeline for some eight million Yemenis being fed by the UN

“There’s no port more important than Hudaydah. So anything which called into question the operation of Hudaydah would be a matter of deepest concern,” he said

This is not a first times which UN employees or supplies have been targeted, on Apr 21, 2018 A Red Cross employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was shot down killed in Taiz , southwestern of Yemen, by Saudi-paid militias whom opened fire on a Red Cross vehicle in Milat neighborhood, killing an employee from a Lebanese nationality

Previously in the province of Hajjah, a hospital belonging to the Organization of Doctors Without Borders was attacked by Saudi warplanes that left one of the workers killed. Such blatant actions against humanity are not the first of their kind in Yemen, whereas in Saada Province, another MSF hospital was bombed in the district of Haidan

In addition, another MSF hospital was targeted by the fighter jets of the US-backed coalition in Razih district, resulting in many killed or wounded hospital employees