US Navy Report: Saudi Blockade Slows Aid to Yemen

Saudis Insist Blockade Would 'Welcome' Aid Ships

by Jason Ditz,

For nearly a half year now, Saudi Arabian and other coalition warships have enforced a strict naval blockade over Yemen, a nation which imports some 90% of its food. Today, a new report from the US Navy is finally acknowledging that the warships are hampering aid shipments to the besieged country.

This seemed a pretty obvious assessment, as reports of food shortages have been growing for months, and Saudi attacks aimed at destroying civilian airports andseaports to prevent “unauthorized” aid delivery would seemingly make this uncontroversial, though the Saudis denied the allegation.

Rather, the Saudi coalition insists they “welcome” aid ships and are trying to encourage them, though the US report noted that Saudi warships parked off the coast of Hodeida broadcast a periodic warning for aid ships to explicitly warn them to stay away from the area.

The report is more than a statement of the obvious, however, as the US Navy has actively participated in this naval blockade at times, committing their own warships to the Yemeni coast to board ships they considered “suspect.”

http://news.antiwar.com/2015/10/14/us-navy-report-saudi-blockade-slows-aid-to-yemen/