Arab coalition bombs Houthis around Hodeidah airport, urges them to withdraw

ADEN, (Reuters) - Arab coalition aircraft bombarded Houthi fighters dug in at the airport of Yemen’s main port Hodeidah yesterday as a senior alliance official said he hoped U.N. diplomacy could coax the Iran-aligned movement to cede the city to “save the population”.

U.N. officials fear a prolonged battle for Hodeidah, where the Houthis are dug in to protect supply lines from the Red Sea to their bastion in the capital Sanaa, will aggravate what is already the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.

The Western-backed Arab alliance launched an onslaught on Hodeidah six days ago in order to turn the tables in a long- stalemated proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has compounded instability across the Middle East.

The coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 after Houthi rebels drove the internationally recognised government into exile. United Arab Emirates forces are spearheading the Hodeidah offensive, now focused on the airport of the Red Sea city.

On Monday Apache helicopter gunships fired at Houthi snipers and other fighters positioned on the rooftops of schools and homes in the Manzar neighbourhood abutting the airport compound, according to local residents.

Houthi forces had blocked roads to the airport, they said.

The Houthis’ al-Masira television reported six coalition air strikes on the Duraihmi district in the vicinity of the port.

The upsurge in fighting has wounded dozens of civilians and prevented aid organisations from reaching parts of Hodeidah.

In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad alHussein voiced concern that the Arab offensive could cause “enormous civilian casualties and have a disastrous impact on life-saving aid to millions of people which comes through the port”.