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Yemen Insurgents Accused of Raising Gas Cylinder's Prices

Cooking gas cylinders are lined up outside a gas station amid supply shortage in Sanaa, Yemen November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Reuters
Cooking gas cylinders are lined up outside a gas station amid supply shortage in Sanaa, Yemen November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Reuters
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Yemen Insurgents Accused of Raising Gas Cylinder's Prices

Cooking gas cylinders are lined up outside a gas station amid supply shortage in Sanaa, Yemen November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Reuters
Cooking gas cylinders are lined up outside a gas station amid supply shortage in Sanaa, Yemen November 7, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Reuters

The price of a gas cylinder in Tihama and Azal districts in Yemen, under Houthi control, has reached about 8,000 Yemeni Riyal, given that its price and distribution cost in liberated areas within the legitimate government's control is around 950 Yemeni Riyal, according to a Yemeni legitimate government official.

Hodeidah chief district, Walid al-Qadimi, warned against Houthi militias profiting from billions of Riyals that result from the difference between the gas canister's price after militias forced companies and distributors to raise the prices.

Qadimi indicated that the difference between the canister's governmental price and the price in the market is about 7,000 Yemeni Riyal for a single gas cylinder.

He suggested imposing a unified price for the cylinder in addition to its distribution cost to reach Tihama and Azal regions. He added that in case the companies increased the prices, the government will have the right to stop supplying these companies with gas.

Qadimi told Asharq al-Awsat that any delay in measures to stop Houthis from stealing money will increase the burden on citizens. He added that militias are using this money in battles against the legitimate government to support their militias, buy more weapons, and recruit members.

Rights activist Abdul Hafiz al-Hutami stated that Houthi militias are punishing citizens in governorates under their control.

Houthi-affiliated black market merchants are selling oil and gas at very high prices. Gas' prices had multiplied 500 percent, even though it had reached government controlled Marib, according to Hutami.

Hutami pointed out that a gas canister is sold for 1,000 Yemeni Riyal, which amounts militias' profits to over 2 million Yemeni Riyal per month.

"Citizens are using plastic wastes and wood in Hodeidah, Ibb, Dhumar, Sanaa, Amran and Hajjah, while international organizations are silent before these humanitarian crimes in Yemen," said Hutami.

The activist also indicated that militias banned 40 oil tank trucks from reaching Ibb governorate and is preventing the gas company from selling at the price used in Marib.

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Arab World

Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's Houthi-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Thursday’s strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The militants have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fellow members of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeidah, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.
Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit, nor any damage assessment.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the militants “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Houthi-held Hodeidah, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decades long war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a militant missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the US military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry.
But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks, said America had no part in them.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.