In a letter to heads of parliamentary unions and Arab, regional and international parliaments, al-Ra’i said Yemen is committed to its “responsible role in securing maritime routes and freedom of international trade” as a Red Sea coastal state exercising independent control over its territorial waters and coastline.
He said the military developments in Yemen have had no impact on the safety of international navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, while slamming Saudi Arabia for continuing its military escalation and blockade against the Yemeni people.
Al-Ra’i reiterated Sanaa’s commitment to ensuring the safe passage of all vessels in Yemen’s territorial waters, with the exception of Saudi-affiliated ships previously covered by the prohibition.
He described the measure as part of a strategy of “blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation” until Saudi Arabia ends its aggression and lifts the blockade imposed on the Yemeni people.
Against this backdrop, Lahj Governor Ahmed Jreib framed the conflict in similar terms, arguing that the fighting is directed not at Yemen’s southern and eastern provinces but at Saudi Arabia.
He said Yemen’s ongoing war is not directed against the people of the southern and eastern provinces but against “the Saudi enemy,” which he said has targeted all Yemenis without exception.
Jreib said the people of the southern and eastern provinces face no threat from Sanaa, but rather from a “foreign occupier” that recruits their sons and uses them as fuel for its wars.
He said the people of the southern and eastern provinces should not become “fuel” for Saudi Arabia’s war, and called for cooperation between the people of northern and southern Yemen to drive the “occupier” from Yemeni territory and lift the blockade on the Yemeni people.
He said cooperation between northern and southern Yemenis could remove the “occupier” from every inch of the country and end the blockade against the Yemeni people.