Sanaa, July 31 (RHC)-- The Yemeni minister of oil and minerals says Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries have looted some 48 million barrels of Yemen’s crude oil over the past few years.

Ahmed Daress said Saudi Arabia and its allies stole 18 million barrels only in 2018, and another 29.5 million in 2019, the Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

Along with the UAE, Saudi Arabia has been waging a destructive war on Yemen to restore former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power.

Daress said the invaders continue to loot Yemen's oil, while the Yemeni people are in dire need of fuel and oil derivatives amid a crippling Saudi blockade.

Three UN agencies have warned that the number of food-insecure people in Yemen could rise from 2 million to 3.2 million in the next six months.

The minister put the value of the loot in 2018 at $1.25 billion, saying some Yemeni traders are coordinating with Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries to plunder the impoverished country's resources. 

According to Daress, the Sana’a-based government would have been able to pay the salaries of all civil servants in Yemen if the oil revenues had not been stolen.

“We have only the option of struggle in order to break the siege and pressure the forces of aggression into delivering oil derivatives to Yemen.”

Separately, deputy director general of the emergency and ambulance sector at the Yemeni Health Ministry Abdulkarim al-Nahari warned that some 500 patients a day will lose their lives if emergency departments in hospitals cease their operations due to lack of fuel.

He said emergency and ambulance departments in public and private hospitals use up 2.9 million liters of diesel per month, while ambulances consume 200,000 liters of gasoline.

If fuel shortages in hospitals are not resolved, emergency services will grind to a halt within the next two weeks, Nahari said.

“The Yemeni petroleum company has provided us with 50 percent of the supply needs and informed us that its diesel reserves are running out because of the coalition of aggression’s continued seizure of oil tankers,” he said.