Yemen Monitor/Ma’rib:
The legitimate Yemeni government’s warnings about the sinking of the ship “Rubymar” off the coast of the Gulf of Aden came to an end by sinking 12 days after the Houthis targeted the ship while it was on its way to the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The direct targeting of the ship under the pretext of solidarity with Gaza in its recent war with Israel led to damage to the stern of the ship, but fortunately its crew was evacuated without any injuries, according to multiple media sources, including the company operating the ship.
The legitimate government issued several warnings about the possibility of the ship sinking immediately after it was targeted by the Houthis, calling on the international community and environmental organizations to quickly intervene to save the situation, especially since the ship that was targeted was carrying on board more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer, which in turn will cause an unimaginable environmental disaster.
“Roybmar” is the first ship to sink in Houthi attacks against commercial ships that began last November. Because of which the United States and the United Kingdom sent forces into the Red Sea and launched attacks on the Iranian-backed rebel group, targeting since mid-January nearly (230 targets), which the United States said was strategic and carried a stock of weapons smuggled from Iran to its Houthi allies aimed at destabilizing Yemeni security. Internal as well as international security by targeting international shipping lanes.
This was not enough, but rather increased the Houthis’ intransigence and their insistence on targeting commercial ships that – according to them – belong to Israel or the United States and its allied countries.
The legitimate Yemeni government, in several statements, expressed its concern about the Houthis’ dealing with commercial ships in the Red Sea and the suffering it will cause as a result of commercial ships changing their course through the Cape of Good Hope, at an economic cost that the oppressed Yemeni citizen will not be able to bear.
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In turn, the government’s Yemeni News Agency (Saba) reported that the sinking of the ship “MV Ruby Mar” was expected, due to the ship – which is about 16 miles from the Yemeni mainland – being left to its fate for more than 12 days, and not responding to the Yemeni government’s appeals to avoid the disaster.
Environmental experts say that drowning in fertilizers that contain phosphates, ammonium nitrate, and other very dangerous chemicals changes the nature of the food cycle in marine ecosystems, because fertilizers stimulate algae growth.
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The Tanker Trackers website said that the sinking of the ship “will cause an environmental catastrophe in (Yemeni) territorial waters and in the Red Sea”.
“A leak of ammonium nitrate fertilizer into the sea could have many important impacts on marine ecosystems”, said Julien Jreissati, Greenpeace’s Middle East and North Africa program director. He added: “Without immediate action, this situation could escalate into a major environmental crisis”.
In turn, the Houthi armed group, which claimed responsibility for the attack on “Robymar,” held the United States responsible.
On Saturday, the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Ajri, accused the United States of taking legal and moral responsibility for any possible marine pollution caused by the sinking of the ship.
Thus, the sinking of the ship “Rubymar” was an environmental catastrophe by all standards, the biological and economic consequences of which were borne by the Yemeni citizen who was drawn into a war in which he had no choice but to do so.
