Press conference on the repercussions of the crimes of the Zionist entity targeting the ports of Hodeidah

A press conference was held at the port of Hodeidah on the repercussions of the Zionist aggression targeting the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa, organized by the Yemeni Red Sea Ports Corporation.

The conference, attended by the Minister of Transport and Public Works Mohammed Qahim, the Undersecretary of Hodeidah Governorate for Culture and Information Affairs Ali Qashr, the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement team, and correspondents of local and foreign media, addressed the damages inflicted on the ports of Hodeidah as a result of the terrorist crime committed by the enemy entity last Thursday morning against these vital civilian facilities.

At the conference, the Minister of Transport and Public Works held the United States and the international community fully responsible for the terrorist crimes committed by the Zionist entity against the Red Sea ports to hinder their services and cause a humanitarian disaster for the Yemeni people.

Qahim considered the repeated Zionist aggression on the Red Sea ports in Hodeidah a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the recognized charters and protocols that criminalize the targeting of ports and civilian objects and emphasize their protection and preservation.

He explained that despite these attacks, the port of Hodeidah continues to operate normally.. Noting the efforts of the leadership and members of the Red Sea Ports Corporation in containing the effects of this crime and standing firmly against attempts to disrupt the ports of Hodeidah and implementing available treatments.

He stressed that the crimes of the Zionist enemy will not deter the Yemeni people from their position in support of the Palestinian people, based on religious, humanitarian and moral duty in light of the shameful international and UN silence towards the comprehensive war of extermination that Gaza is being subjected to.

For his part, the Chairman of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, Zaid Al-Washli, reviewed the nature and extent of the damage that affected the port of Hodeidah in the infrastructure, tugboats assisting ships, the power station and bridge cranes, in addition to the fall of nine martyrs from among the employees of the corporation and the oil company.

He explained that the convening of this conference coincides with the presence of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement team, which carries out three patrols every week in the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa.. indicating that these service ports are not military barracks and are subject to inspection procedures by this team.

Al-Washli pointed out that the bombing and targeting of these ports aims to hinder their work, including the port of Hodeidah, and to try to put it out of service.. indicating that the one who militarizes the Red Sea and navigation is the American and Israeli enemy.

He stressed that the Red Sea Ports Corporation is working, despite these repercussions and risks, at a high pace to contain the damage by providing solutions, treatments and alternatives to ensure the continuation of navigation activity and the reception of ships and commercial containers.

For his part, Major General Mohammed Al-Qadri, a member of the Redeployment Committee in Hodeidah, considered the criminal Zionist entity’s killing of civilians and workers in the ports of Salif and Ras Issa, and the destruction of the capabilities of the Yemeni people, a crime added to the series of crimes of the Israeli and American enemy against the Yemeni and Palestinian peoples.

A statement issued by the press conference referred to the repercussions of the crimes committed by the Zionist enemy entity against the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa, the latest of which resulted in the martyrdom of nine port and oil employees, damage to the infrastructure, facilities and equipment of the ports, and an attempt to affect their operational capacity.

The statement explained that the Red Sea Ports Corporation is still suffering from the consequences of the previous damages of the Israeli aggression, as its ports were once again exposed to severe damage to the equipment and infrastructure of the port of Hodeidah, which affected the bridge cranes, the power station, and the tugboats auxiliary to ships, with total losses estimated at about $313 million for the period from July 20 to December 19 of this year 2024.

It considered the crimes of destroying Yemeni ports to be flagrant violations of the principles and provisions of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, including the four Geneva Conventions and their attached protocols, which criminalize targeting vital facilities that people cannot do without, such as ports and economic facilities, as they are civilian objects that are prohibited from being targeted.

The statement denounced the Zionist arrogance in its crimes, with unconditional American and Western cover and support, to disregard the lives of civilians and destroy the capabilities of the Yemeni people, of which these ports are one of the pillars, with the services they provide in accordance with international maritime standards, requirements, codes, and procedures in force in global ports. He stressed that the Israeli enemy’s insistence on continuing this rampage against the Yemeni people’s ports is clear evidence of the terrorism that the United States and Britain are desperate to defend, which encourages this entity to escalate its terrorism against the peoples of the nation and its capabilities.

The Red Sea Ports Corporation warned of the consequences of targeting its ports, noting that the systematic targeting it has been subjected to since 2015 with deliberate crimes falls within the framework of major war crimes aimed at disrupting the services of these ports, stopping their activity, and depriving millions of Yemenis of their rights to obtain food, medicine, and fuel.

The statement renewed its call on the international community, the United Nations, and its affiliated organizations to assume their responsibilities towards the destruction and targeting that the ports of Hodeidah have been subjected to for ten years, as part of the pressure to pass political papers and resort to humanitarian warfare and the deliberate impact on the services of these civilian facilities and ports.

The conference was attended by the Vice President of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, Nasr Al-Nusairi, the Directors of the Oil Company Branch, Adnan Al-Jarmouzi, the Directors of the Yemeni Red Crescent Society Branch, Jaber Al-Razihi, the Media Office, Ibrahim Al-Zaarour, and the Directors General of the Corporation’s departments.