According to the Saudi Arabia, Houthi rebels are holding hostage 19 ships, carrying over 200 thousand tons of petroleum byproducts in the anchoring zone outside of the port of Hodeidah, which is under Houthis’ control.
Some of these ships are detained for more than 26 days, and they can’t go into the port, despite the port being free of any other ships. The Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations (YCHO) center has reached out to the United Nations OCHA office in Riyadh and the UNVIM offices in Djibouti to express their concern over the tactics used by the Houthis.
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Saudi Arabia is also concerned that the Houthis will destroy these ships, which would create an environmental disaster in the Red Sea.
On March 3, Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked a Saudi Arabian oil tanker, off Hodeidah, Yemen. The Houthis said that this attack was made to avenge a Saudi aerial assault on Hodeidah; the only Yemeni port that Houthis control.
