Bahrain condemns Houthi attack on oil port, calls it escalation against the truce

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain yesterday strongly condemned the attack by terrorist Houthi militia on the al-Dhabba oil terminal in Yemen as an escalation against efforts to extend the truce in Yemen.

The incident is the first significant escalation since the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed government failed to renew an UN-brokered truce earlier this month amid differences over the payment of salaries for civil servants in Houthi-controlled areas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the latest attack a “violation of international law and grave threat to navigation, global trade, and the marine environment.”

The hostile acts, the ministry said, go against efforts to achieve peace and security and alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.

Bahrain, the ministry said, reaffirms its support to the legitimate government in Yemen.

Yemeni officials had said the Houthi drones attacked the al-Dhabba oil terminal, located in the town of al-Shihr in Hadhramaut province, as the oil tanker Nissos was preparing to enter the terminal.

Nissos was scheduled to load 2 million barrels of crude from the terminal, a Yemeni official said, adding that there was no damage to the port and the tanker.

The office of Hadhramout’s governor Mabkhout bin Madi confirmed the attack.

Saudi said the attack is a “flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and international laws and norms.”

“The attack confirms that the terrorist Houthi militia and those who stand behind it continue to target civilian and economic facilities and global energy supplies and passages,” the Kingdom’s foreign ministry added.

United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg said he would continue to push for an extended and expanded deal between the warring parties under intense international pressure to agree.