Yemeni Houthi fighters unlikely to keep control of Hodeidah port city
Yemeni experts believe that the Houthi group will be unable to keep control of the strategic port city of Hodeidah for a long time, despite efforts to reinforce through mobilizing hundreds of new tribal fighters from northern provinces.
A field commander of the pro-government Giants Brigades told Xinhua by phone that the Houthi group formed a new force called “the Hussein battalions” in an attempt to confront the pro-government forces in Hodeidah and the Red Sea coast areas.
“We arrested some fighters during the fighting in Hodeidah and after investigations we discovered that they received advanced military trainings under the supervision of foreign experts,” the Yemeni field commander revealed, requesting anonymity.
“The Houthis recruited hundreds of tribal fighters for the Hussein battalions and after receiving training they were brought to Hodeidah to confront the government forces,” the source said.
Adeeb Sayed, a political analyst and writer based in southern Yemen, said the Houthis will not surrender peacefully or acknowledge defeat in Hodeidah easily.
“It is clear that the government forces have the upper hand in Hodeidah and the Houthi rebel group is not gaining the battles as it lost many areas and hundreds of its fighters died by Saudi-led airstrikes, but the group’s leaders keep disputing that,” Adeeb told Xinhua.
“The Houthi group media outlets always talk about victories against foreign forces in Hodeidah just to deceive the northern tribes into thinking the fighting in Red Sea coast areas could still be won,” Adeeb said.
Adeeb pointed out that most of the group’s high-ranking leaders are not paying enough attention to what they are doing in Hodeidah and also not concerned about losing scores of young fighters in the intensified Saudi-led air strikes across Yemen every day.
Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) operating as part of the Saudi-led coalition announced a pause in the military campaign it is leading against the Houthis in Hodeidah to give a chance to UN peace efforts and to achieve an unconditional Houthi withdrawal from the whole city.
A few days ago, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the UAE resumed the anti-Houthi military operations in Hodeidah, in which the Yemeni government forces seized full control over Tuhyata district and other surrounding areas.
Many Yemeni analysts are concerned that the ongoing fighting and the military escalation in Hodeidah might undermine the upcoming UNsponsored peace negotiations between the two-warring sides.
Both the Saudi-backed government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi leaders had expressed their readiness to return to the negotiating table during their meetings with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths late in June.
But the Houthis escalated the situation and fired several ballistic missiles against government-controlled areas in Hodeidah and used Iranianmade drones to launch attacks against headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition forces in the southern port city of Aden.