Yemen’s HSA Pledges $1.2m to UN Drive to Avert Safer Tanker Oil Spill

This satellite image provided by Manar Technologies taken June 17, 2020, shows the FSO Safer tanker moored off Ras Issa port, in Yemen. (AP)
This satellite image provided by Manar Technologies taken June 17, 2020, shows the FSO Safer tanker moored off Ras Issa port, in Yemen. (AP)
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Yemen’s HSA Pledges $1.2m to UN Drive to Avert Safer Tanker Oil Spill

This satellite image provided by Manar Technologies taken June 17, 2020, shows the FSO Safer tanker moored off Ras Issa port, in Yemen. (AP)
This satellite image provided by Manar Technologies taken June 17, 2020, shows the FSO Safer tanker moored off Ras Issa port, in Yemen. (AP)

Yemen’s HSA Group on Thursday became the first private entity to pledge funds for a United Nations operation to avoid an oil spill from a tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen, as the UN urgently tries to secure an initial requirement of $80 million.

The international organization, which has so far raised over $60 million, has warned that the Safer, stranded since 2015 off a Red Sea oil terminal, could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster near Alaska.

HSA, Yemen’s largest private company, announced a $1.2 million donation towards initially offloading the tanker, which holds 1.1 million barrels, Reuters reported.

“Given that there remains a large funding shortfall, and time is running out, HSA believes that the private sector must step forward,” Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, managing director of HSA’s Yemen operations, said in a statement.

The UN has raised $64 million, including the HSA pledge and more than $142,000 through a public crowdfunding drive initiated in June and which will be relaunched later this month, a UN spokesperson told Reuters in response to a query.

The crowdfunding campaign had aimed to raise $5 million towards the plan to transfer the oil to a safe temporary vessel before winter seas increase the risk of a break up.

The UN would then arrange long-term replacement storage. The entire operation requires $144 million.

Russell Geekie, a spokesperson for the top UN official in Yemen, told Reuters the organization hoped HSA’s contribution would serve as a catalyst for other private entities.

He said $9-$10 million had been disbursed by donors for the operation so far. “The United Nations asks donors that have pledged funds to disburse them urgently and others that are in a position to contribute to do so as soon as possible.”

The Safer threatens an environmental disaster for Yemen, which is already grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis due to a seven-year war, and across the Red Sea. The UN said the cost of a clean-up alone would be $20 billion.



UNIFIL Urges Timely Israeli Pullout from South Lebanon under Month-Old Truce Deal

Armored vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon on December 23, 2024, under a delicate ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Armored vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon on December 23, 2024, under a delicate ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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UNIFIL Urges Timely Israeli Pullout from South Lebanon under Month-Old Truce Deal

Armored vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon on December 23, 2024, under a delicate ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Armored vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon on December 23, 2024, under a delicate ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called on Thursday for a timely Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, citing what it called Israeli violations of a Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement with Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a US-brokered 60-day ceasefire that calls for a phased Israeli military pullout after more than a year of war, in keeping with a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that ended their last major conflict.

Under the agreement, Hezbollah fighters must leave positions in south Lebanon and move north of the Litani River, which runs about 20 miles (30 km) north of the border with Israel, along with a full Israeli withdrawal from the south.

In a statement, UNIFIL voiced concern over what it said was continued destruction by Israeli forces of residential areas, farmland and infrastructure in south Lebanon, deeming this a violation of UN Resolution 1701.

"UNIFIL continues to urge the timely withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces (in place of Hezbollah) in southern Lebanon, alongside the full implementation of Resolution 1701 as a comprehensive path toward peace," the statement said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into UNIFIL's criticism and declined further comment for the time being.

Under the terms of its truce with Hezbollah, Israeli forces can take up to 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon but neither side can launch offensive operations.

Lebanon's army said it was following up with UNIFIL and the committee supervising the agreement regarding what it said was a deepened incursion of Israeli forces into some areas of southern Lebanese areas.

UNIFIL reiterated readiness to monitor the area south of the Litani River to ensure it remains free of armed personnel and weapons, except those of Lebanon's government and UNIFIL.

The ceasefire marked the end of the deadliest confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah since their six-week war in 2006. However, Israel has continued military operations against Palestinian fighters in Gaza.