Ships anchored at Ras Isa in Yemen have been denied permission to leave despite having UNVIM clearance (UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen), according to reports received on May 1 by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which operates a voluntary reporting scheme (VRS) for the Indian Ocean, specifically Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea.
UKMTO said it has received multiple reports regarding vessels anchored at Ras Isa in Yemen.
The incident report, documented at 1110 UTC, emphasizes the ongoing concerns about the threat to vessels and the possibility to be held or restricted from safely departing.
These commands from local authorities have in some cases demanded that vessels proceed to berths alongside from their anchorage, according to UKMTO.
“These directions are reported to have been issued under threat of violence,” UKMTO said, “with at least one incident of warning shots being fired, and other vessels boarded by armed personnel.”
Recently, United States forces struck the Ras Isa fuel port, with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) emphasizing that the strike was not meant to harm the Yemeni people.
The U.S. Central Command confirmed the destruction of Ras Isa fuel port, but the “coalition of anti-aggression parties and political forces” responded to the US accusations calling the strike a “war crime” because the port, as they said, “is a civilian facility.”
“The Iran-backed Houthis use fuel to sustain their military operations, as a weapon of control, and to benefit economically from embezzling the profits from the import. This fuel should be legitimately supplied to the people of Yemen,” the US Central Command said in a statement.
The US action, it claimed, was intended to disrupt this revenue and weaken the Houthis’ ability to sustain regional attacks.
