Yemen’s Hodeidah port receives first shipments since Israeli attack

The western Yemeni port was operational 24 hours after the Israeli strikes, according to the governor of Hodeidah province  

News Desk - The Cradle 

The western Yemeni port of Hodeidah has received its first shipments since being targeted in a brutal Israeli attack over the weekend. 

On the evening of 23 July, a ship carrying 514 containers of goods and another holding about 20,000 tons of iron arrived at the port. 

“The container ship Marsa Zenith carries 514 containers of various goods, and docked at the quay of Container Terminal No. 6. … the ship BROTHER 1, carrying 22,803 tons of iron, docked on cargo berths No. 2-3,” the director of maritime operations at the port, Captain Mohammad al-Sais, was quoted as saying by SABA news agency. 

“The Red Sea Ports Corporation is working with all its crews and cadres to continue the operational process of the port of Hodeidah, and to overcome the entry of ships loaded with goods and goods to provide the needs of the Yemeni people,” he added. 

The Deputy Director of the port’s Container Terminal, Dr Ahmad al-Murtada, was quoted by the local news outlet as saying that “the port of Hodeidah is working normally around the clock in receiving all ships and enhancing work and coordination on keeping pace with all commercial supply chain.”

The governor of Hodeidah province had said on 22 July that the port’s work resumed 24 hours after the attack.

The comments of the port officials came on the same day as the announcement of a new agreement between Yemen’s Sanaa government and the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. 

The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Muhammad Abdul Salam, announced that Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift certain harsh restrictions targeting Yemeni commercial banks and ease the blockade on Sanaa International Airport. 

The clauses of the agreement include “the cancellation of recent decisions and measures against banks from both sides and the cessation of any similar future decisions or measures” and “the resumption of Yemen Airways flights between Sanaa and Jordan and increasing the number of its flights to three daily, with flights to Cairo and India daily or as needed,” Abdul Salam said. 

The deal also calls for “meetings to address the administrative, technical, and financial challenges facing Yemen Airways” and “meetings to discuss all economic and humanitarian issues based on a roadmap.”

Sanaa International Airport and Hodeidah Port have been under a Saudi-led blockade since 2015 when a coalition of Arab states headed by Riyadh launched a war against Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement. 

Talks between the Saudi-led coalition and the Sanaa government affiliated with Ansarallah made significant progress last year but have stalled since the start of the war in Gaza and the Yemeni army’s pro-Palestine operations. 

The shipments arriving at Hodeidah port came days after a brutal Israeli attack on the facility on Saturday, which killed six and wounded at least 87, most of who suffered severe burns as a result of Israel’s targeting of oil infrastructure. 

The Israeli attack was a response to the Yemeni army’s drone strike on Tel Aviv on 19 July, which killed one Israeli and injured several others. The unprecedented attack was labeled as a “mega-failure” of the Israeli defense establishment by Hebrew media. 

Fires raged at Hodeidah port days after the Israeli strike. An oil storage tank at the facility exploded on Tuesday night as a result, raising fears that flames could spread to other oil tanks.