Yemen: Fuel crisis plagues Houthi-controlled areas

Yemen’s Houthi group said Thursday night that all provinces under its control are suffering from a severe fuel crisis.

“There is a suffocating fuel crisis for citizens in all provinces”, said Ammar Adhraay, executive director of the oil company under the group’s control, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency.

The company has the ability to provide fuel to all Yemeni areas through its branches at the lowest cost and at a unified price, provided that fuel ships are allowed to reach al-Hudaydah port permanently without objection, in addition to the UN performing its basic duty.

The Houthi-controlled Yemen Petroleum Company says the Arab coalition is holding six oil ships and preventing it from entering al-Hudaydah province.

The Arab coalition has previously stressed its concern for the flow of basic goods through the port of al-Hudaydah, accusing the Houthis of “trading in the humanitarian situation”.

Local residents in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sana’a, said the overcrowded city had been suffering from a severe fuel crisis for days.

Residents said the crisis led to the sale of oil derivatives on the black market at more than double the official price, while many drivers stopped work because of the emergency.

The areas under the legitimate government’s control have also witnessed a severe economic crisis due to the currency collapse, while Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have promised to provide the necessary support.

While residents of areas under the legitimate government’s control can demonstrate peacefully and express their opinion, the Houthis practice a policy of intimidation against those who reject the deteriorating socio-economic situation.

In the past, Houthis have targeted demonstrations demanding better social and economic conditions, especially in the capital Sanaa.

For more than seven years, Yemen has been witnessing an ongoing war between pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab military coalition and the Iran-backed Houthis, who have controlled several governorates, including the capital Sana’a, since September 2014.

As of the end of 2021, the Yemen war had killed 377,000 directly and indirectly, according to the UN.

The war has cost the country $126 billion, in one of the world’s worst humanitarian and economic crises, with most of the country’s 30 million people dependent on aid.