عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Yemen Declares Failure of Efforts to Avert Safer Disaster, Saudi Arabia Trains on Confronting Oil Leak

This image taken in 2019, shows the corrosion on the control piping system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. (AP)
This image taken in 2019, shows the corrosion on the control piping system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. (AP)
TT
TT

Yemen Declares Failure of Efforts to Avert Safer Disaster, Saudi Arabia Trains on Confronting Oil Leak

This image taken in 2019, shows the corrosion on the control piping system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. (AP)
This image taken in 2019, shows the corrosion on the control piping system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. (AP)

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani announced on Sunday the failure of international efforts to convince the Iran-backed Houthi militias in allowing a United Nations technical team to access the eroding Safer oil tanker that has been moored off the coast of Hodeidah for five years.

In remarks to the Yemen news agency Saba, he said all efforts exerted in the past months aimed at containing the threat of an explosion or leak were obstructed by the Houthis.

The Houthis have for years been manipulating this issue in order to achieve political and financial gain, totally heedless of the impending environmental and economic disaster should the tanker explode or its oil cargo leak into the Red Sea, he added.

Eryani urged the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to assume its main responsibilities in preserving international peace and security and act “immediately” to stop this potential disaster that will have repercussions for several years to come.

Separately, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection announced the launch of a drill aimed at addressing a possible oil leak in the southern Jazan region that overlooks the Red Sea.

Head of the authority Ali al-Ghamdi said the training, which kicks off on Tuesday, will include 112 Saudi experts, who represent 22 parties dedicated to combating oil pollution.

The drill is taking place with the potential oil leak from the Safer tanker in mind.

The vessel, which is carrying a cargo of 1.1 million barrels of oil, has been moored off the coast of Ras Issa, in Hodeidah province, since 2015.

The eroding tanker is in desperate need of repair. Water has already started to leak into its engine room, prompting UN officials to warn of a major impending environmental disaster in the Red Sea, as well as the potential risk of a massive explosion caused by the buildup of gases in the storage tanks.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

UN Envoy to Syria Warns Conflict Not Over

Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, visits Sednaya prison which was known as a slaughterhouse under Syria's Bashar al-Assad rule, after fighters of the ruling Syrian body ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Sednaya, Syria December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, visits Sednaya prison which was known as a slaughterhouse under Syria's Bashar al-Assad rule, after fighters of the ruling Syrian body ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Sednaya, Syria December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
TT

UN Envoy to Syria Warns Conflict Not Over

Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, visits Sednaya prison which was known as a slaughterhouse under Syria's Bashar al-Assad rule, after fighters of the ruling Syrian body ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Sednaya, Syria December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, visits Sednaya prison which was known as a slaughterhouse under Syria's Bashar al-Assad rule, after fighters of the ruling Syrian body ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Sednaya, Syria December 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Syria's conflict "has not ended" even after the departure of former president Bashar al-Assad, the UN's envoy to the country warned Tuesday, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.

Geir Pedersen, the UN's special envoy for Syria, also called at the Security Council for Israel to "cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan" and said an end to sanctions would be key to assisting Syria.

"There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered... A five-day ceasefire has now expired and I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation," he said.

"Such an escalation could be catastrophic."

Pedersen also said he had met with Syria's new de facto leadership following the opposition’s lightning takeover, and toured Sednaya prison's "dungeons" and "torture and execution chambers," operated under Assad's government.

He called for "broad support" for Syria and an end to sanctions to allow for reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.

"Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs," Pedersen said.

- 'Attacks on Syria's sovereignty' -

"There is a clear international willingness to engage. The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations, too, and full reconstruction."

Western countries are wrestling with their approach to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the takeover of Damascus, and has roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.

It has largely been designated in the West as a "terrorist" group, despite moderating its rhetoric.

Pedersen noted Israel had conducted more than 350 strikes on Syria following the departure of the former regime, including a major strike on Tartous.

"Such attacks place a battered civilian population at further risk and undermine the prospects of an orderly political transition," he said.

The envoy warned against plans announced by Israel's cabinet to expand settlements inside the Golan, occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing atop a strategic Syrian peak inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights that Israel seized this month.

"Israel must cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan, which are illegal. Attacks on Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity must stop," said Pedersen.