Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the House called for the Joe Biden administration to tell Saudi Arabia to lift its sea blockade of Yemen, saying the embargo on key ports of entry is a direct cause of the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, lawmakers stated Riyadh’s embargo on ports in the North of Yemen is having a catastrophic impact on civilians.
“Since 2015, the restrictions imposed by the coalition have critically exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” the lawmakers added.
“The interference, delay, and outright blocking of commercial goods and humanitarian assistance shipped to Yemen’s ports is a principal cause of price inflation, food insecurity, economic collapse, and the failure of public services in Yemen,” the stated.
In particular, the lawmakers call for the blockade to be lifted from the Hudaydah port in the North of Yemen.
The letter was sent by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East, Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and the ranking Republican member of the subcommittee, Joe Wilson (S.C.). It was supported by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), and eight Democratic members of the panel.
In his first foreign policy speech, Biden announced an end to US support for the years-long Saudi war on Yemen that has deepened suffering in the poorest Arab country.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement. The war has taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.
The United Nations estimated in late 2020 that the war had caused as many as 233,000 deaths in Yemen since 2015, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food and deadly disease.
According to the UN, at least 80 percent of Yemen’s 30 million people need some form of aid or protection.
Ansarullah, backed by the Yemeni Armed Forces and allied popular groups, has gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and successfully defended Yemen against the aggression, leaving Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the county.
Several human right groups and charities have accused the Western governments of prolonging the war in Yemen by permitting the sale of weapons and military equipments to the kingdom and its allies.