Yemen Threatens to Punish Shipping Companies Cooperating with Houthis

Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
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Yemen Threatens to Punish Shipping Companies Cooperating with Houthis

Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)

The Yemeni government threatened to revoke the licenses and block any shipping company cooperating with the Houthi militia.

Ports of Aden Corporation sent a letter to two shipping companies, warning against shipping towards Hodeidah port, stressing that the two companies approval to divert their shipping routes to Hodeidah "is a clear and explicit violation of the directives of the legitimate government."

The letter warned it might cancel the permits granted to the companies, stopping their activities in the ports, noting that any navigational activity not approved by the legitimate government is a recognition of the coup militias.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik asserted the need to take all measures that preserve public funds and implement decisions regulating imports, consistent with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and financing terrorism.

Abdulmalik chaired the ministerial committee meeting in Aden to discuss economic developments and develop solutions to secure trade in land and sea ports.

According to the Saba news agency, the committee discussed the measures and decisions to facilitate imports.

The committee also reviewed the plans and procedures to regulate trade movement, which could facilitate and ensure ease of arrival of goods and reduce the cost of transportation and insurance in the ports of the liberated areas.

The committee stressed the need to take all procedures and measures to preserve public funds, implement government decisions regulating imports, and comply with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

It emphasized taking the necessary steps to prevent transgressions or violations of local and international laws and mechanisms, including communicating with countries and export destinations.

According to the Yemeni official media, ministers briefed the committee on implementing previous decisions and the required mechanisms and procedures.

The Ministries of Transport and Trade denied any change in the ship's movement heading to Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah port, under the Houthi control.

They confirmed the ongoing coordination with the UN and the coalition supporting legitimacy of imposing the mechanisms.

Earlier, the Houthi militia claimed a change in the navigation movement heading to Hodeidah ports against the UN mechanism used to enter ships.

The Transport Minister, Abdulsalam Hameed, confirmed that the ship's movement to the ports in liberated areas and Aden had stayed the same.

Hameed assured major merchants, importers, and shipping companies there were solutions to the difficulties facing trade activity and organizing transportation of the goods according to the regulatory frameworks.

The government is in full coordination with the UN and the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, asserted the minister, accusing the militias of spreading lies.

He vowed that the government and its competent agencies would take all legal measures against commercial ships, cargo owners, and navigational agencies that violate the law and the mechanisms.



Israel Approves Controversial Project in West Bank

A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
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Israel Approves Controversial Project in West Bank

A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)

The Israeli security Cabinet approved on Sunday the construction of a road for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Critics say it will open the door for Israel to annex a key area just outside Jerusalem, further undermining the feasibility of a future Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the project is meant to streamline travel for Palestinians in communities near the large Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group, said the road will divert Palestinian traffic outside of Maaleh Adumim and the surrounding area known as E1, a tract of open land deemed essential for the territorial contiguity of a future state.

That will make it easier for Israel to annex E1, according to Hagit Ofran, a settlement expert with the group, because Israel can claim there is no disruption to Palestinian movement.

Critics say Israeli settlements and other land grabs make a contiguous future state increasingly impossible. Several roads in the West Bank are meant for use by either Israelis or Palestinians, which international rights groups say is part of an apartheid system, allegations Israel rejects.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for their future state. A two-state solution is widely seen as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict.