Yemeni Ports Revenues at $52 Million in 3 Months

A gunman walks at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen May 10, 2017. (Reuters)
A gunman walks at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen May 10, 2017. (Reuters)
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Yemeni Ports Revenues at $52 Million in 3 Months

A gunman walks at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen May 10, 2017. (Reuters)
A gunman walks at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen May 10, 2017. (Reuters)

A specialized Yemeni government committee confirmed that measures taken on port revenues by authorities managed to collect about 52 million dollars in three months, topped by the port of Hodeidah, with nearly 23 million dollars.

The economic committee said in a statement that these funds collected from imports and in port revenues will help pay the salaries of public service employees in areas controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militias. The payments will be made according to a UN plan.

It also stressed that these funds will contribute to financing the state budget deficit. Effectively collecting port revenues serves as a clear indicative for the government’s success in implementing sovereign laws and a move in the right direction towards economic stability.

Forty-four percent of revenues came from Hodeidah port, followed by Aden port at 35 percent Mukalla port with 16 percent and finally the Nashitun port in Al-Mahra governorate, which accounted for 5 percent of total revenues.

Since August, the government started implementing port measures that impose paying fuel import duties in the form of customs and taxes given to the war-torn country’s Central Bank in the interim capital of Aden.

The economic committee also said it had granted “four fuel ships entry permits to unload to the port of Hodeidah upon the request of the UN Special Envoy’s office.”

In previous statements, the economic committee accused the Houthis militias of standing behind the suspension of shipments of fuel off of Hodeidah port and of delaying entry procedures and unloading of cargo.

The government committee said the militias had stopped eight fuel tankers from docking at Hodeidah by preventing traders from submitting documents for government authorization. Houthis have been trying to create and prolong a fuel crisis in Yemen.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.