Funding Shortage Threatens ‘FSO Safer’ Rescue Mission

The Nautica very large crude carrier is on its way to the Red Sea to unload the derelict Safer tanker (UN)
The Nautica very large crude carrier is on its way to the Red Sea to unload the derelict Safer tanker (UN)
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Funding Shortage Threatens ‘FSO Safer’ Rescue Mission

The Nautica very large crude carrier is on its way to the Red Sea to unload the derelict Safer tanker (UN)
The Nautica very large crude carrier is on its way to the Red Sea to unload the derelict Safer tanker (UN)

In a joint effort with the UN, Britain and the Netherlands will host a conference in two weeks aimed at raising an extra $29.4 million to salvage the deteriorating oil tanker known as FSO “Safer,” moored off the coast of Hodeidah governorate in Yemen.

The derelict supertanker has been stranded for years without maintenance, carrying around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.

The UN has warned that if the Safer tanker in the Red Sea were to crack, it would result in the spillage of 140,000 tons of oil, posing a threat to both the environment and human life.

The cost of inaction would also have a significant impact on international trade.

Just days ago, the UN announced that a very large crude carrier or VLCC set sail from Zhoushan, China as part of a UN-coordinated operation to remove more than a million barrels of oil from the decaying FSO Safer.

The vessel is expected to arrive in early May.

“We are at a critical moment to address the threat posed by the FSO Safer,” said the British ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward.

“The replacement vessel has begun its journey to Yemen but there is not enough funding for the salvage operation to take place,” she added.

Woodward revealed that her country, along with the Netherlands, will be hosting a conference in partnership with the UN to make commitments aimed at filling the funding gap and providing a long-term solution for Yemen.

“The costs of inaction are severe. This would devastate marine life and coastal livelihoods, disrupt life-saving humanitarian assistance for 17 million people, and cost the global economy billions in lost trade every day,” noted Woodward.

“On 4th May, the UK is co-hosting a Pledging Conference with the Netherlands and in partnership with the UN,” she added.

“The time to act is now. We all have a stake in averting this catastrophe,” she asserted.

According to the UN, the additional funding required to prevent a disaster on Safer is estimated at around $29.4 million.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.