Local Editor
The Saudi-led military coalition bombing Yemen said it will continue to block the main aid route into the country until it is satisfied its Houthi opponents cannot use it to bring in weapons.
The coalition closed all air, land and sea access to Yemen last week following a retaliatory missile attack launched by the Houthi Ansarullah revolutionaries.
Aid agencies warned the move would worsen the humanitarian crisis in the country, where the war has left an estimated seven million people facing famine.
Ports controlled by Yemen’s resigned regime would reopen soon, the coalition said on Sunday in a statement issued by the Saudi mission at the United Nations.
However other ports, including Hodeida -- where some 80 percent of Yemen’s food supplies enter -- will remain closed until a U.N. verification regime is reviewed to ensure no weapons reach the Houthis, the statement said.
It said the first steps will start within 24 hours and will include the southern ports of Aden and Mukalla and the Red Sea port of al-Mokha, which are all controlled by the Hadi regime.
The United Nations and international aid organizations have repeatedly criticized the coalition in the past for blocking aid access, especially to the north.
The Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Yemen since 2015. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which pits the Hadi regime, backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, against the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
