Houthis blame Saudi-led coalition for Yemen crises

SANAA

The Houthi rebel group has held the Saudi-led coalition responsible for the economic and humanitarian crises in war-torn Yemen.

In a Twitter post late Sunday, the head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, accused the coalition of "imposing realities on Yemenis in exchange for allowing the entry of their basic needs”.

"The coalition is holding [the country’s] oil derivatives in order to double the bill on the citizens, rejecting UN licenses, looting oil and wealth, and undermining the currency."

Al-Houthi called for the dispatch of a fact-finding team, but without elaborating further.

There was no comment from the Saudi-led coalition on the accusations.

The Houthi movement accuses the coalition of imposing a blockade on Yemen, obstructing the arrival of food and humanitarian supplies, seizing fuel ships and preventing them from entering the port of Al-Hudaydah in western Yemen, accusations the coalition denies.

Yemen has been wracked by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crisis with nearly 80% or about 30 million of its people needing humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 13 million in danger of starving to death.

*Ibrahim Mukhtar contributed to this report from Ankara