Yemeni Government Calls on Immediate UN Intervention for Derelict Oil Tanker

Safer oil tanker, Getty Images
Safer oil tanker, Getty Images
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Yemeni Government Calls on Immediate UN Intervention for Derelict Oil Tanker

Safer oil tanker, Getty Images
Safer oil tanker, Getty Images

Yemen’s government has urged the UN Security Council to intervene to prevent a rundown oil tanker, Safer, from leaking more than a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea.

Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hadhrami called on the UNSC to hold a special session following the Iran-backed Houthi militia’s refusal to allow UN experts to conduct their five-year maintenance on the ship.

Al-Hadhrami, in a letter, urged the Council to undertake its responsibilities to avoid an environmental catastrophe.

An oil leak from the Safer’s tanks would be “one of the biggest environmental disasters in the region and the world,” he told Christoph Heusgen, Germany’s Permanent Representative to the UN and President of UNSC.

The Houthis have rejected all independent international requests to board the vessel, including the latest one from UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths, who demanded access for an international technical team.

Al-Hadhrami, in his letter, briefed the UNSC about all government and international efforts, including the government approving a separate proposal to resolve the Safer oil tanker crisis presented recently by Griffiths.

Houthis have rejected the proposal.

Al-Hadhrami quoted previous government letters and statements to the UN which showcase the oil tanker’s deteriorating situation.

The tanker, which has been floating near the port city of Hodeidah since 1989 following an oil spill, is at risk of exploding and causing a massive environmental disaster.

Safer – often described by officials as a ticking time bomb – has not docked since 2014 and is currently in waters controlled by the Houthis.

The minister called on the Council to address the situation immediately and separate the issue from Yemen’s ongoing crisis.

An environmental catastrophe would pose a more immediate threat to Yemen and the region, he added.



Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
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Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers were behind an attack in which several cars were torched overnight just a few kilometers (miles) away from the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

No one was wounded in the attack overnight into Monday in Al-Bireh, a city adjacent to Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. An Associated Press reporter counted 18 burned-out cars.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.

But attacks in and around Ramallah, home to senior Palestinian officials and international missions, are rare.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers population centers in the territory, condemned the attack. Israeli police, who handle law enforcement matters involving settlers in the West Bank, said they were investigating.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy over less than half of the territory.

Over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in scores of settlements across the West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.