Government Bans WFP-Linked Ship From Offloading "Polluted" Diesel in South Yemen
The Yemeni government has ordered a ban on the entry of a ship carrying "polluted" diesel affiliated with the World Food Program (WFP) to the port of Mukalla in Hadramout. In an official memorandum issued by the head of the Anti-Corruption Authority, Afrah Badwelan, it was mentioned the authority received a report that the ship loaded with polluted fuel to support humanitarian operations in Yemen. The shipment contains five thousand metric tons of "polluted" diesel affiliated with the World Food Program, deemed unfit for use. According to the memorandum, after being denied offloading in Hadramout, the ship headed to the port in Al-Bureiqa of Aden. However, the authority directed the port not to accept the unloading of the shipment and to return it to the country of origin.
A container ship with ties to an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean amid Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defense official said Saturday. The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew. "We continue to monitor the situation closely," the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the US military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attack.
The Houthi group expelled on Friday Safir Al-Din Sayed, a senior UN official, from the capital, Sanaa, without giving a reason, sources told the media on Friday. The targeting of personnel in international organizations in Sanaa has escalated over the past month. Lately, a Yemeni national, Hisham Al-Hakimi, was kidnapped and detained. He later died in prison in Sanaa. No explanation was provided about the circumstances of his detention and death. Al-Hakimi was working for "Save the Children"in Sanaa.
Hamas said Saturday that it was delaying the release of a second group of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners until Israel complies with a truce agreement, in a bitter blow to relatives.Hamas said the issues of aid deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for prisoner releases were holding up the handover. The unforeseen setback followed an initial exchange on Friday when Hamas released 13 Israelis, all of them women and children, hours after a four-day truce took effect in Gaza. Israel released 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons under an agreement that mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
