UAE forces prevent international journalists’ delegation from visiting Balhaf facility in Shabwah

SANAA, Nov. 14 (YPA) – The UAE occupation forces at the Balhaf gas facility in Shabwah province in southeastern Yemen have prevented a delegation of Western journalists from visiting the facility.

A press source accompanying the Western media delegation told news website Almawqeapost that UAE forces based in Balhaf refused to let the international journalists’ delegation enter the facility, despite them having gained the official approval of the local authority and the oil company to visit the facility.

The source pointed out that the UAE forces, which have turned the facility into a military barracks, deployed armoured vehicles in front of the main gate of the facility and deployed a large number of armed personnel.

An international press delegation has been visiting Shabwah for three days to learn about the general situation in the province and to discuss the latest developments.

The UAE has controlled the Balhaf facility since 2015, and prevented representatives of the Saudi-backed Hadi puppet government from resuming its gas exports, in a move that officials have described as colonial.

Hadi’s governor of Shabwah, Mohammed Saleh Bin Adio, has already called for the expulsion of UAE forces and resumption of the export of natural gas from the facility.

The Balhaf facility in Shabwah is one of the most important Yemeni facilities of its kind, and used to supply the state treasury by nearly $4 billion annually.

However, , after the intervention of the UAE-Saudi coalition in Yemen, the station was completely halted and gas exports were stopped, causing a rapid decline in Yemen’s currency and a collapse of the national economy.

E.M