News - Yemen: Yemen's Ministry of Fisheries strongly condemned the crime committed by international forces in the Red Sea, leading to the martyrdom of eight Yemeni fishermen from the Al-Khokha district.

In a statement, the ministry pointed out that the ordeal faced by the fishermen in Al-Khokha constitutes a heinous crime and a blatant, serious violation of international humanitarian law and human rights.

The Ministry of Fisheries emphasized that such hostile actions in Yemen's territorial waters have catastrophic effects and consequences on the fishermen, demanding that they should not be overlooked.

It called upon the international community and human rights organizations to take immediate action to prevent the recurrence of these crimes, protect Yemeni fishermen, ensure accountability for those involved in committing this crime, and achieve justice for the fishermen.

Informed sources had earlier clarified that the bodies of the eight fishermen, namely 'Qasim Hamadi, Ibrahim Muhannish, Zakaria Mansoub, Hamza Abdul Hafiz, Majid Buhaidar, Ibrahim Salem, Ahmed Shaif, and Anwar Hattab,' were found on Friday after a month of their disappearance in the islands of Zu Alharab, under the control of mercenaries affiliated with the US-Saudi aggression. These islands overlook the waterway in the Arabian Sea.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been engaged in a war on Yemen since 2015 to reinstate power to the country’s Riyadh-friendly former officials. The ongoing war and simultaneous siege enforced by the US-Saudi-led coalition have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis.

The invasion has pushed entire Yemen close to the brink of outright famine, turning the country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Coastal communities in Yemen have suffered greatly in the ongoing bloody war. Fishing boats, ports, and processing sites have been destroyed or damaged, and many fishermen have lost their lives.

The US-Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes which hit fishing boats and markets, and mines were laid in the sea making the waters treacherous. To make matters worse, the exacerbation of piracy and attacks by the Eritrean authorities and the aggressive forces against fishermen on the Yemeni coasts.

As of August 2019, at least 334 fishermen had been reported killed or injured since 2015, according to statistics from Yemen's fisheries authority. Others had been arrested and had their boats seized, while some were now detained in Saudi-run prisons in Yemen.

Local reports estimate that of Yemen's approximately 100,000 fishermen since 2015 over a third (37,000) have quit and thus lost their income. fishermen and the fish sector in Yemen.