Scientists warn of ‘imminent and devastating’ Red Sea oil spill from Houthi-held tanker

The Safer was abandoned in 2015 and contains 4 million barrels of oil. (AFP/Maxar)
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Updated 15 December 2020
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Scientists warn of ‘imminent and devastating’ Red Sea oil spill from Houthi-held tanker

  • International experts say Safer vessel could dump four times as much oil as Exxon Valdez into Red Sea
  • Winter currents would devastate marine life and livelihoods in six countries

LONDON: A decaying tanker moored off Yemen’s Houthi-controlled coast is on the verge of creating one of the world’s biggest oil spills, scientists have warned.

The Safer tanker holds one million barrels of oil — four times the amount that leaked from the Exxon Valdez in the catastrophic 1989 spill in Alaska.

The Houthi militia has repeatedly blocked experts from accessing the ship, which was abandoned in 2015.




Models showing the spread of oil from a leak from the Safer in both winter and summer. (Frontiers in Marine Science)

A paper published on Tuesday by a group of international experts warned that unless action was taken immediately, there would be a “regional environmental and humanitarian disaster.”

The scientists developed a computer model of how the oil would disperse if a major leak unfolds during winter. Currents at this time of year would spread the oil much further along the Red Sea coast than in summer. The tanker, which was used as a storage and offloading vessel, is moored off the coast of Hodeidah, a key battleground in Yemen’s conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and the internationally recognized government.

“The time is now to prevent a potential devastation to the region’s waters and the livelihoods and health of millions of people living in half a dozen countries along the Red Sea’s coast,” said Karine Kleinhaus, an associate professor of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, who led the team of scientists. “If a spill from the Safer is allowed to occur, the oil would spread via ocean currents to devastate a global ocean resource, as the coral reefs of the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba are projected to be among the last reef ecosystems in the world to survive the coming decades.”

She said that the region’s reefs can survive in much warmer waters compared to other coral around the world, which is being wiped out by rising temperatures due to climate change.




The Safer is moored off the coast of a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. The militia has denied international experts access to the ship. (AFP/Maxar)

The paper, published by “Frontiers in Marine Science,” called for the UN and its International Maritime Organization to take emergency action to remove the oil despite regional political tensions.

“Officials should act immediately to secure the livelihood of the Red Sea’s peoples and the world’s largest marine refuge from climate change,” the paper said.

According to the scientists, no one has yet accessed the vessel despite the UN saying last month that it had reached a deal with the Houthis for its experts to go onboard.

In May, water breached the ship’s hull and entered the engine room and oil spots were seen near the tanker in September.

“The Safer has been stranded and deteriorating off Yemen’s coast since 2015, giving the world the most advanced warning ever of a major oil spill,” the scientists said. “But this unique opportunity is being squandered.”

Last week, a US official said that the Houthis refusal to allow access to the tanker was similar to the behavior of a terrorist goup.

The militia, which sparked the Yemen war in 2014 when it seized the capital Sanaa, has been accused of a string of attacks against shipping in the Red Sea.

The group was widely suspected in Tuesday’s attack on a ship as it unloaded fuel at Jeddah port. A small boat laden with explosives drove into the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, sparking an explosion and fire but causing no casualties.


16 injured after Israel hit by Yemen-launched ‘projectile’

Updated 7 min 52 sec ago
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16 injured after Israel hit by Yemen-launched ‘projectile’

  • The projectile fell in Bnei Brak town, east of Tel Aviv
  • Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on central Israel

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Saturday it had failed to intercept a “projectile” launched from Yemen that landed near Tel Aviv, with the national medical service saying 14 people were lightly wounded.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, one projectile launched from Yemen was identified and unsuccessful interception attempts were made,” the Israeli military said on its Telegram channel.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the missile attack in central Israel on Saturday, in a statement the Houthis said they had “targeted a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of” Tel Aviv using a ballistic missile. Israeli rescuers earlier reported 16 wounded in the attack.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly launched missile attacks against Israel since the war in Gaza began more than a year ago, most of which have been intercepted.

In return, Israel has struck multiple targets in Yemen — including ports and energy facilities in areas controlled by the Houthis.

“A short time ago, reports were received of a weapon falling in one of the settlements within the Tel Aviv district,” Israeli police said Saturday.

According to Israeli media, the projectile fell in the town of Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv.

Israel’s emergency medical service said 14 people had been injured.

“Additional teams are treating several people on-site who were injured while heading to protected areas, as well as those suffering from anxiety,” a spokesman said.

The Houthi rebels say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and last week pledged to continue operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”

On December 9, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.

In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

The Houthis have also regularly targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, leading to retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets by US and sometimes British forces.

The rebels said Thursday that Israeli air strikes that day killed nine people, after the group fired a missile toward Israel, badly damaging a school.

While Israel has previously hit targets in Yemen, Thursday’s were the first against the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

“The Israeli enemy targeted ports in Hodeida and power stations in Sanaa, and the Israeli aggression resulted in the martyrdom of nine civilian martyrs,” rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said in a lengthy speech broadcast by the rebels’ Al-Masira TV.

Israel said it struck the targets in Yemen after intercepting a missile fired from the country, a strike the rebels subsequently claimed.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said they had fired ballistic missiles at “two specific and sensitive military targets... in the occupied Yaffa area,” referring to the Jaffa region near Tel Aviv.


Qatar embassy reopens in Damascus with flag raising: AFP

Updated 4 sec ago
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Qatar embassy reopens in Damascus with flag raising: AFP

DAMASCUS: Qatar reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday, 13 years after it was shut early in Syria’s civil conflict, as foreign governments seek to establish ties with the country’s new rulers.
An AFP journalist saw Qatar’s flag raised over the mission, making it the second country, after Turkiye, to officially reopen its embassy since Islamist-led rebels drove president Bashar Assad from power earlier this month.


Syria’s new rulers name Asaad Al-Shibani as foreign minister, state news agency says

Updated 24 min 24 sec ago
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Syria’s new rulers name Asaad Al-Shibani as foreign minister, state news agency says

Syria’s new rulers have appointed a foreign minister, the official Syrian news agency (SANA) said on Saturday, as they seek to build international relations two weeks after Bashar Assad was ousted.
The ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
No details were immediately available about Shibani.
Syria’s de facto ruler, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, has actively engaged with foreign delegations since assuming power, including hosting the UN’s Syria envoy and senior US diplomats.
Sharaa has signaled a willingness to engage diplomatically with international envoys, saying his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development. He has said he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.


US delegation to Syria says Assad’s torture-prison network is far bigger than previously thought

Updated 21 December 2024
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US delegation to Syria says Assad’s torture-prison network is far bigger than previously thought

  • In first official visit to Syria by US officials in 12 years, team led by secretary of state for near eastern affairs meets the country’s interim leadership
  • As they search for missing Americans, delegates discover the number of regime prisons could be as high as 40, much more than the 10 or 20 they suspected

CHICAGO: There are “many more” regime prisons in Syria than previously believed, a high-level delegation of US diplomats said on Friday as they searched for missing Americans in the country.

In the first official visit to Syria by American officials in 12 years, the delegation met on Friday with members of the country’s interim leadership both to urge the formation of an inclusive government and to locate US citizens who disappeared during the conflict.

Western countries have sought to establish connections with senior figures in the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham militant group that led the offensive which forced President Bashar Assad from power this month.

Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, who led the US delegation, told journalists, including Arab News, that the delegates attended a commemorative event for “the tens of thousands of Syrians and non-Syrians alike who were detained, tortured, forcibly disappeared or are missing, and who brutally perished at the hands of the former regime.”

Among the missing Americans are freelance journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in 2012, and Majid Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist from Texas who disappeared in 2017 and is thought to have died.

Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, who is part of the delegation, said the number of prisons in which detainees were tortured and killed by the Assad regime is much higher than suspected.

“We thought there’d be maybe 10 or 20,” he said. “It’s probably more like 40; it might even be more. They’re in little clusters at times. Sometimes they’re in the far outreaches of Damascus.

“Over 12 years, we’ve been able to pinpoint about six facilities that we believe have a high possibility of having had Austin Tice at one point or another. Now, over the last probably 11 or 12 days, we’ve received additional information based on the changing conditions, which leads us to add maybe one or two or three more facilities to that initial number of six.”

Carstens said the US has limited resources available in Syria and will focus on six of the prisons in an attempt to determine Tice’s fate. But he said the search would eventually expand to cover all 40 prison locations.

“We’re going to be like bulldogs on this,” he said. “We’re not going to stop until we find the information that we need to conclude what has happened to Austin, where he is, and to return him home to his family.”

He said the FBI cannot be present on the ground in Syria for an extended period of time to search for missing Americans “right now,” but suggested this might change in the future. Meanwhile, the US continues to work with “partners,” including nongovernmental organizations and the news media in Syria, he added.

Leaf confirmed the delegation met Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the commander of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an Islamist group that was once aligned with Al-Qaeda and is still designated as a terrorist organization by Washington. She said she told Al-Sharaa the US would not pursue the $10 million reward for his capture, and hoped the group will be able to help locate Tice and other missing Americans.

The delegation received “positive messages” from the Syrian representatives they met during their short visit, Leaf said. America is committed to helping the Syrian people overcome “over five decades of the most horrifying repression,” she added.

“We will be looking for progress on these principles and actions, not just words,” she said. “I also communicated the importance of inclusion and broad consultation during this time of transition.

“We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government which respects the rights of all Syrians, including women and Syria's diverse ethnic and religious communities.”

Leaf said the US would be able to help with humanitarian assistance and work with Syrians to “seize this historic opportunity.”

She added: “We also discussed the critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region. Ahmad Al-Sharaa committed to this.”

Bringing Assad to justice for his crimes, particularly those carried out during the civil war, which started in 2011, remains a priority for the US government, Leaf said.

“Syrians desperately want that,” she added.

She called on the international community to offer technical expertise and other support to help document Assad’s crimes, including evidence from the graves and mass graves that have been uncovered since his downfall on Dec. 8.


UAE sends 3,000 tonnes of aid on ship bound for Lebanon

Updated 21 December 2024
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UAE sends 3,000 tonnes of aid on ship bound for Lebanon

DUBAI: The UAE on Friday dispatched a second aid ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of relief materials to Lebanon.  
The ship departed Port of Jebel Ali, bound for the Port of Beirut, as part of the “UAE Stands with Lebanon” initiative which started in October. 
It carries a wide range of essential aid supplies, such as food, winter clothing and items specifically designed for children and women, state-run WAM reported. 
The statement noted that this was the second UAE relief aid ship to carry various relief supplies from UAE donor agencies, humanitarian institutions to Lebanon, noting that the ship was expected to arrive by the end of this month.
The UAE has consistently reaffirmed its unwavering position towards the unity of Lebanon and its national sovereignty since the Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon.
In October, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed directed the delivery of an urgent $100 million relief package to help the people of Lebanon.