Ansarollah Website | Report by Yahya Al-Shami
Yemeni provinces under Saudi military control enter their second decade of occupation burdened by endless lines for cooking gas and fuel, scorched by recurring summer blackouts, and troubled by popular protests met with bullets and repression rather than policy solutions. In a contrast that exposes the invalidity of "liberation" slogans and false development promises, these regions are sinking into consecutive living crises despite housing oil and gas fields and holding open access to seaports without any blockade to cite as a pretext for failure.
The very resources capable of powering the Arabian Peninsula and securing a dignified life for Yemenis are dissipating into the pockets of war profiteers and crisis brokers among faction leaders at home and abroad. Meanwhile, ordinary Yemeni citizens remain hostage to manufactured scarcity and a deliberate impoverishment strategy aimed at keeping Yemen weak, divided, and dependent on temporary aid. This report details how the proclaimed "liberation" transformed into an occupation coupled with humiliation, where queues, protests, broken promises, and conditional grants have become the primary features of an era that has brought the public nothing but hunger, waiting, and disillusionment.
Extended Queues for Recurring Crises
Once again, cooking gas queues dominate the scene in the city of Aden and other Saudi-controlled provinces—a new chapter in a cascade of accumulated crises that have plagued residents for years. The same scene repeats with every shortage as long lines stretch past filling stations and distribution points for hours under intense heat. Citizens face a compound struggle involving shortages of domestic gas, prolonged power cuts that have far exceeded acceptable limits, and fuel and water supply crises threatening public health, education, and daily life. Remarkably, these conditions persist in areas experiencing no military blockade, nor any closure of their sea or land borders, which are theoretically Yemen’s open gateways to the world.
The fallout from the gas crisis extends beyond households, kitchens, and restaurants—many of which have been forced to shut down or sharply raise meal prices due to the cost of alternative energy sources. It has also severely impacted public transport. Thousands of commuters find themselves stranded on streets for hours awaiting public transit options that have dramatically thinned due to fuel shortages and blacking-out supplies redirecting to black market channels at exorbitant prices. Daily commutes in Aden have become a grueling trial burdening residents, as employees, students, and patients pay the price of service degradation with their health, time, and livelihoods amid an absolute absence of government alternatives or emergency response plans.
This suffering is equally evident in occupied Taiz, which periodically experiences near-total gridlock on primary and secondary roads due to worsening fuel shortages and unprecedented gasoline prices. The cost of a 20-liter canister of gasoline has climbed to approximately 45,000 Yemeni Rials, dealing a direct blow to transport and daily business operations. Numerous vehicles have ceased operating, most gas stations have closed, and long lines form at the few stations still open—a sign that the crisis is not merely circumstantial, but part of a systematic impoverishment strategy choking cities sequentially.
In Marib—the province housing Yemen's largest oil and gas fields and the economic core expected to supply the nation with energy—the contradiction reaches its peak. Residents wait for days at filling stations, denied access to basic petroleum products extracted from their own land, even as black markets flourish and the bank accounts of allied commanders grow. This dynamic illustrates the reality of regions under Saudi control and exemplifies resource extraction at its most severe. Marib, heavily promoted by coalition media as a stronghold of stability, now suffers service and economic decline worse than pre-war levels, illustrating that external military control prioritizes its own strategic interests over local welfare.
Corruption Networks and Resource Monopolies Under Occupation
As public distress deepens and families struggle to secure a single cylinder of cooking gas, accusations point toward corruption networks affiliated with local authorities. Residents accuse these networks of hoarding gas supplies and diverting them to black markets for high profits at the expense of the population's basic needs. Video recordings and documented testimonies highlight administrative disorder and deliberate delays in offloading and distributing gas transport trucks to engineer artificial scarcity. This reflects a governance environment operated by war brokers under direct Saudi oversight, perpetuating hardship while enabling local actors to monetize human suffering through interconnected military, security, and administrative networks.
Despite substantial natural resources, direct access to oil and gas fields, and open seaports in Aden, Mukalla, and Nishtun—without the air or sea blockades often cited to excuse policy failure—crises continue to multiply across these provinces. Revenue generated from petroleum exports and customs collection does not translate into public services or infrastructure projects. Instead, these funds are diverted into private accounts, political patronage, and localized conflicts, leaving operational budgets for essential public utilities practically nonexistent. Consequently, areas labeled as "liberated provinces" remain economically fragile entities dependent on external aid and short-term grants rather than their own sovereign resources.
Public grievances routinely go unaddressed by local authorities, whose focus remains on personal assets and real estate holdings abroad. This dynamic leaves the territory subject to external administration, continuing patterns seen throughout the intervention since 2015. Observers argue that these policies yield a fractured and dependent Yemen, where administrative decisions remain subordinate to foreign priorities rather than sustainable local development and institutional independence.
Popular Unrest Met with Saudi Repression
Public anger and civil protests against local authorities have escalated across the occupied provinces due to worsening economic conditions and unaddressed civic grievances. Demonstrators have burned tires and blocked major thoroughfares in several neighborhoods of Aden, as well as towns across Abyan, Shabwah, and Hadhramaut, protesting severe electricity outages that have led to heat-related casualties in Aden. Local sources report that protesters in the Buraiqah district closed the Oil Port, blocking fuel tankers from departing, while demonstrators cut the primary road between the Caltex and Spinning & Weaving roundabouts in Mansoura to protest service failures and security responses against peaceful demonstrations.
In a similar vein, activists in Hadhramaut Valley have called for a comprehensive civil disobedience campaign, including commercial shutdowns and work suspensions across public and private facilities. In Zinjibar, Abyan province, residents held protests outside the government complex demanding immediate solutions to utility and economic crises. In Shabwah, severe diesel and gasoline shortages disrupted transport, trade, and local services, while black-market fuel prices reached record highs of up to 50,000 Rials per 20 liters. These public demonstrations have frequently encountered security interventions and crackdowns by forces aligned with Saudi authority, maintaining a cycle of tension across affected communities.
As Aden enters its second decade under current military arrangements, the promised structural transformations and economic modernization have failed to materialize, leaving behind persistent service queues and unmet policy targets. Residents in these provinces increasingly view external interventions as fundamentally misaligned with local stability and national sovereignty. Between intense summer heat and persistent blackouts, conditions in these territories continue to deteriorate under fragmented security arrangements and competing political agendas.
Liberation lie: Service Failures and Structural Instability
The ongoing electricity crisis in Aden has undermined official development narratives promoted in recent months, including publicized energy support packages presented by regional representatives like Saudi official Falah Al-Shahrani. Despite promises of uninterrupted power supply, operational realities have contradicted official assertions. Power outages remain a constant feature of the summer season, with financial support packages arriving intermittently during peak crisis periods rather than establishing permanent infrastructural solutions.
Beyond immediate utility failures, the decade-long persistence of the electricity crisis underscores broader structural governance issues. Observers and local residents increasingly conclude that current arrangements lack an institutional incentive to build a self-sustaining, economically independent Yemeni state, resulting instead in managed instability and perpetual crisis management.
Whether these conditions will trigger a sustained public reaction capable of reshaping the political landscape remains an open question. For now, fuel and utility queues remain the defining feature of daily life in these regions, raising concerns that systemic failure and economic distress could become normalized for future generations unless local populations assert direct control over their governance and national resources.
