Oil Tankers Back Up Near Yemeni Port After Israel Hits Tugs
- Air raids have damaged the tugboats vital for vessel docking
- At least 15 oil tankers have clustered since late December
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An unusually large flotilla of merchant vessels has backed up near Yemen’s Ras Isa port in the Red Sea after Israeli air raids damaged the tugboats needed to bring them to shore.
Several tugs were heavily damaged as a result of attacks by the Israel Defense Forces in late December. While the boats have been out of service for about three weeks, port personnel are slowly bringing tankers into harbor, causing a bottleneck, according to a worker at the terminal and a senior official in the transport ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.