RIYADH/SANAA: British Prime Minister Theresa May has implored Saudi leaders to ease a blockade on war-torn Yemen to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe”, her office said on Thursday, echoing urgent appeals from the United Nations. A Saudi-led coalition battling Ansar Allah fighters has only partially lifted a crippling aid blockade on Yemen, which was imposed earlier this month in response to a missile fired by the dissidents that was intercepted near Riyadh airport.
May met both Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman late on Wednesday on the second leg of her Middle East tour, with the worsening crisis in Yemen topping her agenda.
“The prime minister made clear that the flow of commercial supplies on which the country (Yemen) depends must be resumed if we are to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” May’s office said.
“They agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this.”
The war has since killed around 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.
The United Nations on Monday urged the Saudi-led coalition to do “much more” to ease the blockade impeding shipments of aid and fully reopen the key Ansar Allah-held Red Sea port of Hodeida.
The coalition has allowed some supplies to reach dissident-held Sanaa and the Saleef Red Sea port, also in the Ansar Allah’s hands. But little aid has entered through Hodeida, the main conduit for UN-supervised deliveries of food and medicine.
UN officials say Yemen could face the world’s largest famine in decades unless the crippling blockade is lifted.
“The strong message I will be giving to Saudi Arabia... is that we want to see Hodeida port opened for humanitarian and commercial access,” May told the BBC before arriving in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the leader of Ansar Allah fighters on Thursday threatened retaliation over a land, air and sea blockade imposed on the country by the alliance supporting the government.
Ansar Allah chief Abdulmalik al Huthi warned against “prolonging the blockade”.
“Should the blockade continue, we know what (targets) would cause great pain and how to reach them,” he said in a speech broadcast on the Al Masirah television, in an implicit warning of fresh missile attacks.
Also on Thursday, tens of thousands of Ansar Allah supporters gathered in Sanaa a day after deadly clashes between the Ansar Allah fighters and their allies sparked fears of further violence in the capital.
The clashes, which erupted late on Wednesday near the capital’s Saleh mosque, killed nine Ansar Allah fighters and five supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to medical sources.
The infighting threatens to unravel the fragile dissident alliance that controls the capital and has been battling the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Yemen’s war.
But on Thursday afternoon, Sanaa’s Sabaeen Square was packed as Yemenis gathered to mark the Prophet Muhammed’s (PUBH) birthday, heeding a call from rebel leader Abdulmalik al Huthi for supporters to attend.
The rally came after late-night mediation attempts between Saleh and the Ansar Allah fighters failed to reconcile both sides, sources in Saleh’s General People’s Congress political party said. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
