Transport Ministry, Red Sea Ports Corporation Confirm Hodeidah Ports Contains No Arms

The Ministry of Transport and the Yemeni Red Sea Ports Corporation confirmed that the ports of Hodeidah are free of any armed manifestations, military barracks, warehouses for assembling weapons. In a joint statement, the Ministry and the Corporation stated that Hodeidah and Saleef ports are subject to daily and weekly inspections by the United Nations Mission, and the number of patrols of the UN Verification Mission team at the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef has exceeded more than 189.

The statement indicated that the results of the verification of the United Nations Mission confirmed that the ports affiliated to the Corporation, Hodeidah Port, Saleef Port and Ras Issa Marina, are committed to all requirements and procedures in agreement with international ports. They are not involved in any conflicts and are free of any armed manifestations, military barracks or warehouses to collect Weapons or launching gunboats.

The Ministry of Transport and the Red Sea Ports Corporation denied all the allegations and slanders made by the so-called spokesman of the coalition of aggression in the press conference last Saturday.
It turned out that the scenes that were shown at the conference were extracted from an American documentary about the invasion of Iraq that was filmed in the year 2003.

They pointed out that a field visit was made by the United Nations Mission to the port of Hodeidah and its facilities yesterday, Sunday, to refute the false allegations of the spokesman of the aggression, to confirm the civility and professionalism of the Red Sea Ports Corporation and its compliance with all requirements and standards of the International Code for the Security of Ports and Ships ISPS Code issued by IMO of the United Nations.

The statement stressed that the US-Saudi aggression should be well aware that targeting civilian ports is a violation of international humanitarian law and recognized international covenants, including the four Geneva Conventions and the protocols attached to them, which criminalize targeting vital facilities that are indispensable to people, such as ports and economic facilities, as they are among the civilian objects that are prohibited to be targeted. This type of targeting is considers as war crimes of the first degree, and crimes against humanity with no statute of limitations.

The statement pointed out that the institution was waiting for the United Nations, the Security Council and the international community to play their role in lifting the restrictions and siege imposed on it outside the scope of the law and not the other way around.

The Ministry of Transport and the Red Sea Ports Corporation renewed their call to the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the Yemeni people to alleviate the human suffering they have been experiencing for the past seven years.

 They also called international community to deal with the economic issue with the required seriousness, and to oblige the coalition of aggression to fully lift the siege, stop using the economy as a means of pressure and bargaining, and separate the human side from the political and military sides.