Targeting the Safer oil facility... a criminal Houthi tendency to destroy Yemen's economic capabilities

In a dangerous escalation that could exacerbate the economic situation, the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militia launched an attack with three drones at dawn yesterday, Friday, in an attempt to target the Safer oil facility in Ma'rib Governorate, northeastern Yemen.

The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff announced in a statement on Friday evening that three winged suicide drones carrying highly explosive materials were shot down, launched by the terrorist Houthi militias in a cowardly terrorist attempt to destroy the Safer oil facility in Ma'rib Governorate.

The statement explained that the information indicates that these hostile aircraft were launched from a point located between the areas of Dahidha and Qarn Al-Suayri, east of the city of Al-Hazm in Al-Jawf Governorate, which is under the control of the enemy, stressing "the readiness of the armed forces to respond to such actions that target the interests of the Yemeni people and their sovereign economic facilities."

This attack came about a month after the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that an agreement had been reached between the government and the Houthi militia regarding reducing economic escalation, which included canceling the decisions taken by the Central Bank of Yemen in the interim capital, Aden, against banks that violated the decision to move their main headquarters from Sana’a.

Safer Oil Company is one of the most important institutions of the Yemeni state and its most important vital resources. Throughout the years of war, it has supplied all Yemeni regions, including Houthi regions, with domestic gas at low prices, before the militia prevented its entry into the areas under its control and imported Iranian domestic gas at double prices.

Safer Company produces about 40 thousand barrels of oil per day, and also produces domestic gas with a production capacity of 800 metric tons per day allocated for local consumption. It is the only producer of liquefied natural gas and is exported to the liquefaction station in the port of Balhaf in Shabwa Governorate on the Arabian Sea, which has been halted since the Houthi militia coup and the departure of foreign companies working in the oil and gas sector.

Dangerous escalation threatens to undermine the truce

In its first response to the attack, the Yemeni government warned that the targeting of the Safer oil facility in Ma'rib Governorate by the terrorist Houthi militias threatens to undermine the chances of calm and drag the situation into further complexity, and portends the collapse of the country's economic situation.

Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Muammar Al-Eryani, said that "the targeting of the Safer facility by the terrorist Houthi militia affiliated with Iran is a dangerous escalation that falls within the economic war it is waging against the Yemeni government and people, its destructive approach to the infrastructure and capabilities of Yemen, and the policies of systematic impoverishment and starvation of Yemenis."

He explained in a press statement that the Houthi militia began waging an economic war on the government to prevent it from being able to fulfill its obligations, and in October 2022, it attacked ships and oil tankers in the ports of Hadhramaut and Shabwa governorates, which led to the cessation of oil exports.

He also pointed out that the militia prevented the sale of local gas coming from Ma'rib Governorate to areas under its control and replaced it with free gas coming from Iran via the port of Hodeidah, and doubled the prices of tax and customs fees at land ports to prevent the movement of goods and tankers between the governorates, with the aim of forcing traders to stop importing from the port of Aden.

Al-Eryani warned against the Houthi militia exploiting the international laxity to continue its escalation path, which threatens to undermine the chances of calm and drag the situation into further complexity, portends the collapse of the economic situation, and exacerbates human suffering.

He added: "We confirm that the government will not stand idly by and will take all measures that preserve the interests and capabilities of the Yemeni people, and protect their sacrifices in the battle to restore the state and end the coup."

Al-Eryani called on the Yemeni people, with all their categories and components, especially those living in areas controlled by the Houthi militia, who are becoming more miserable and poor every day, to realize that Yemen is losing every day and its economy and facilities are being destroyed.

He added that the militia does not carry any project for construction, development and reconstruction, and that it is only good at waging wars, killing, demolishing, sabotaging, impoverishing and starving the Yemenis, and that Yemen's restoration of its health, security and stability depends on the departure of this criminal gang.

Al-Eryani called on the international community, the United Nations and its special envoy to Yemen to issue an explicit condemnation of this terrorist act and take firm positions towards this dangerous escalation, which confirms the Houthi militia's indifference to the efforts made by brotherly and friendly countries to establish peace.

He also called for immediate action to classify it as a "global terrorist organization", and to devote efforts to supporting the Presidential Leadership Council and the government to restore state institutions, impose their control, and establish security and stability throughout Yemeni territory.

Declaration of war and criminal tendency

Observers and analysts considered the Houthi terrorist militias' attempt to target the Safer oil facility as a criminal tendency towards destruction and a declaration of war that would destroy the truce and any understandings to achieve peace.

In this context, political analyst Mustafa Naji said that the Houthis' bombing of Safer oil facilities with three drones that were shot down by military units there without causing a disaster similar to what happened in Ad-Dabbah in Hadhramaut.

Naji added via the "X" platform: "Because the planes did not achieve their goal, the matter will continue as if nothing happened. This action is a declaration of war that completely destroys any truce and peace understandings. It is completely different from any previous violations or small attack on one of the fronts."

He continued: "The strange thing is that this operation came after a threat to respond to Israel and after American newspapers began writing that the Houthis' stock of drones had run out and that they were now resorting to shoulder-fired missiles to carry out their operations in the Red Sea."

Naji added: "The truth is that the Houthis are dedicating their weapons to killing Yemenis and destroying their economic capabilities to bring them to their knees and build a state of the soldiers of God and his chosen one. This operation is the economic implementation of the agreement to retract the measures of the (Central Bank of Yemen) and it is a commitment to the promise that the (UN) envoy and the countries of the region rejoiced and cheered."

In turn, analyst Adnan Al-Jabrni said, “Under the euphoria of the flow of Iranian gas and oil ships to the Houthi militia through the port of Hodeidah since the truce, the group continues its attempts to target the Safer Company, although throughout the years of war it has continued to supply every Yemeni home with gas, at a low price despite the Houthis doubling it in the areas under their control.

He added, via the "X" platform, that the company was able, with the support of the leadership of the local authority in Marib, to overcome all risks to continue the work of Safer as a sovereign interest and an acquisition for every Yemeni, but this will not continue and the group will reap the results of its foolish calculations.

Al-Jabrini explained that "there is no explanation for the Houthi militia targeting the Safer National Oil Production and Exploration Company facility - despite the halt in exports and in light of the truce and roadmap discussions - other than the dominance of the Houthi criminal tendency to destroy all the people's capabilities, and the group's inability to stop, even temporarily, from targeting Yemenis and their interests."

Researcher Ibrahim Jalal wrote, wondering: “After threatening to respond to Israel, the Houthis targeted the Safer facility in Marib. Does the road to Palestine pass through Marib? Is the group diversifying its ways to destroy the capabilities of the Yemenis and raise the cost of living, sometimes by bringing Israel and sometimes through its approach? Has peace lost its controls and objective frameworks to become chaos without a clear horizon?”

political pressure paper

In turn, journalist Mareb Al-Ward described the attack on the Safer facility as a "dangerous development", but it is not strange for the Houthis, who are destroying the interests of the people and only care about their own interests.

Al-Ward said via the "X" platform, criticizing the Presidential Leadership Council's position: "At a time when the tongues of the Houthis' local opponents are talking about the truce as if it were a precious treasure that must be preserved, Iran's agents are using it to achieve their political goals and do not care about this vulgar talk."

He added that "targeting the Safer facility is a message of political pressure using a military method to bring them to their knees before the roadmap that serves them alone," stressing that "this incident and what preceded it and what may follow it anywhere should remind all parties that thinking with the mentality of each one "who has experienced it" is not a solution, and that unless they are united in action, not in words, they will all lose."

Journalist Adonis Al-Dakhini held the Presidential Leadership Council fully responsible for any destruction that befalls the capabilities of this people, and said: “The council itself chose to appease the Houthi militia and submit to all forms of blackmail practiced by Iran’s mercenaries, and abandoned its responsibility to defend the country’s constants and capabilities.”

Al-Dakhini added via the "X" platform: "The Houthi militia considered the Leadership Council's cancellation of the Central Bank's decisions as an open check through which it can practice whatever it aspires to, and it went on to target the Safer facility in Marib."

He continued: "The Leadership Council did not set a ceiling for negotiations, nor a limit to the Houthi terrorism that targeted all the people's capabilities, and against the people themselves, and the Leadership Council responded to it with a campaign on the X platform!"

In this context, Ali Al-Dhahab, a researcher in armed groups, believes that the escalating Houthi threats to oil facilities in light of the peace efforts sponsored by the United Nations are using a new pressure card to achieve major political gains by linking them to long-term humanitarian and economic paths that benefit the Houthis.

In a statement to the Independent Arabia newspaper, Al-Dhahab considered that “the proposed roadmap supported by the United Nations serves the interests of the Houthis to a great extent, as it gives them enough time to benefit from the breakthrough in the economic and humanitarian aspects and delays the political aspect, which enables the Houthis to impose their conditions when the legitimate government is deprived of many of its financial resources and political decision.”

In the face of these challenges, Al-Dhahab believes that “the Presidential Leadership Council must free itself from external influences and take a more firm stance towards the Houthis by responding firmly to any threats,” noting that “negligence in this regard could lead to dire consequences.”

In October 2022, the Houthi militias targeted the ports of Al-Nashmiyah in Shabwa Governorate and Al-Dhabah in Hadhramaut with drones, which caused the cessation of oil exports. On August 4, the government announced that it had incurred financial losses estimated at about $1.5 billion due to the cessation of oil exports.