A Yemeni government-owned oil and natural gas exploration and production company says nearly a dozen ships carrying energy derivatives destined for the conflict-plagued Arab country remain in the hands of the Saudi-led coalition despite the fact the vessels possess the required permits from relevant international bodies.

An unnamed official at the Yemen Oil and Gas Corporation (YOGC) said on Thursday that eleven tankers have been marooned at the port of Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, adding that the alliance is preventing the vessels from offloading their consignments at the strategic al-Hudaydah port in western Yemen in a bid to tighten the screws on ordinary Yemenis and increase their sufferings.

Back on December 12, YOGC spokesman Amin al-Shabati told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Saudi-led coalition is not allowing more than a dozen ships to unload critical fuel and food supplies at the Red Sea port of Hudaydah.

Al-Shabati highlighted that at least 13 vessels, carrying basic goods, were waiting for several weeks to gain access to the strategic port.

The vessels were being seized despite the fact that they had undergone inspection by the United Nations and obtained the relevant papers, he added.

Al-Shabati further explained that eight of the seized ships were carrying energy derivatives, while the five others contained food destined for the impoverished Arab country.

French munitions kill dozens of civilians: Top Yemeni official

Meanwhile, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, has roundly criticized France for providing arms and logistics to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the war-ravaged country.

“France has killed and injured more than 38 Yemenis by artillery shelling in al-Raqou market in Munabbih border district in Sa’ada governorate,” Houthi wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Wednesday.

He added that the French legal system was turning a blind eye to such attacks.

On Tuesday evening, at least 17 people, including a dozen African refugees, lost their lives when Saudi artillery units targeted the market. The attack left several people injured as well.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights strongly condemned the deadly Saudi-led airstrike, describing it as a blatant violation of humanitarian principles.

The ministry, in a statement released on Wednesday, said the crime adds to the offenses that “the heinous coalition of aggression” has perpetrated against the Yemeni nation, and represents an outstanding example of the alliance’s violation of humanitarian principles and international human rights laws.

The statement added that the Saudi-led coalition presses ahead with its brutal campaign against Yemeni civilians and continues to target them through various methods, and without any human or international deterrence.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.