The Saudi-led Coalition’s blockade of Yemen is keeping out food imports, fuel and medical supplies desperately needed for the Yemeni population’s survival in violation of the laws of war. Yemen is in urgent need of fuel to power generators for hospitals overwhelmed with wounded from the fighting and to pump water to civilian residences.

According to the 2016 Humanitarian Needs Overview released in November 2015, 21.2 million people making up 82% of the population are now in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.  Whereas, nearly 2.1 million people are currently estimated to be malnourished, including more than 1.3 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.  This dire situation has exacerbated to these levels largely due to the Saudi-led Coalition abuse of Resolution 2216 - an arms embargo on 5 people that is actually being used to not only block humanitarian aide but to shut down the entire economy.

SUMMARY OF TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO RECORDINGS BETWEEN SAUDI-LED COALITION AND THE PORT AUTHORITY IN HODEIDA

1. On March 4, 2016, the Saudi-led Coalition contacted the Port Authority in Hodeida (PAH) declaring it an operational strike zone demanding that all ships docked at the Port leave by 8am the next day.
2. The Saudi-led Coalition requested the names of the ships present in the Port. The PAH responded saying the tankers present at the Port include: Ocean Mark, Reef Elaf, Gas Express, Force One, and Patina.
3. The Saudi-led Coalition asked whether there were any other ships present at the Port.  The PAH responded in the negative.  Thereafter, the Saudi-led Coalition threatened that if there are other ships present at the dock, the PAH will hold responsibility for what happens to the Port or the ships themselves.  The PAH then asked for the timing of the strikes to which the Saudi-led Coalition answered that the initial strikes would begin in 20 minutes and that the PAH has until 8am the following day to identify location of the certain ships including Cruiser, Diyab, Jumana and that if they are present in the Port that PAH will be responsible for the repercussions and that they must leave the Port immediately. The Saudi-led Coalition stated that if any ships other than the 5 mentioned were present at the Port they would be targeted by Coalition strikes by either the airforce or navy.
4. The PAH contacted the Coalition and asked about the duration of the strikes and that there were some ships that will leave the Port in the next couple of hours.
5. The Saudi-led Coalition contacted the PAH and said that there is no time for any of the ships to leave as the strikes begun and that at 8am the following day full fledge strikes will take place targeting all ships warning that Cruiser, Diyab, Jumana are suspect ships and that at 8am they will be legitimate targets to which the PAH will hold responsibility for what ensues.  The PAH denied that those ships were present in the Port.  The Coalition said that it wants all ships to leave so that they can allow authorized ships to enter.  The Coalition asked for the ships that were present once more and the PAH said that it would revert with a list.