US Embassy Cites Yemen Port Deliveries in Rebuttal to Houthi Blockade Claims

The US Embassy in Yemen has challenged Houthi claims that a Saudi-led blockade is preventing supplies from entering the country, citing shipments through ports controlled by the armed group. In an Arabic-language video published on the embassy’s official Instagram account on Tuesday evening, spokesperson Khaled Wolfsberg said commercial goods continued to reach Houthi-held areas.

Wolfsberg said 272 commercial ships unloaded cargo at Hodeidah, as-Salif and Ras Isa between January and September 2026. All three ports are under Houthi control. The embassy presented those figures as evidence against the group’s assertion that Saudi Arabia and its allies had imposed a comprehensive siege on Yemen’s Red Sea ports that prevented aid from reaching civilians.

Figures from the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen, which oversees and facilitates commercial shipping to the region, also recorded 272 vessels sailing to those ports during the first nine months of the year. The mechanism cleared dozens of ships each month. Traffic was highest in January and March, when 34 vessels sailed in each month, while July recorded 25.

The shipments carried millions of tonnes of essential goods, chiefly food. Food deliveries reached their highest level in March, when more than 737,000 tonnes were discharged, following nearly 630,000 tonnes in January. Deliveries continued later in the year, with more than 511,000 tonnes arriving in August and more than 495,000 tonnes in September.

Container shipments also reached Hodeidah. Four vessels unloaded 1,231 containers in January, three delivered 851 in March, and another three discharged 1,268 in April. Container traffic varied later in the year, particularly following the latest fighting, but one ship unloaded 182 containers in September. Fuel arrivals also fluctuated: more than 149,000 tonnes were discharged in February, while September recorded none, despite continued substantial deliveries of food and other goods.

The shipping figures come amid UN warnings that recent fighting has deepened Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, including in Taiz. The government-controlled city is entirely surrounded by Houthi forces. In the video, Wolfsberg accused the group of preventing food and fuel from reaching hospitals and water stations there, describing the restrictions facing residents as a siege and blaming the surrounding forces for local shortages.

The Houthis, also called Ansar Allah, meaning Supporters of God in Arabic, took control of the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. They subsequently captured extensive territory in northern and western Yemen. During an offensive along the coast in September this year, the group also seized the port city of Mocha.