Renewed battle for Hodeida sparks humanitarian crisis fears
ADEN: Fears were growing of a humanitarian crisis in Yemen after Saudi-backed government forces launched a series of attacks on rebel-held Hodeida, as a charity warned yesterday that more than five million children were at risk of famine in the war-torn state.
The Huthi rebels accused the government and its Saudi-led allies of deliberately targeting food warehouses as the coalition said it had resumed a “military operation to liberate Hodeida and its port”.
Pro-government forces and medical sources in Hodeida province told AFP that 40 Huthis had been killed around the embattled city since Monday night.
The fight for Hodeida, which the Huthis seized in 2014, was put on hold for 11 weeks as the United Nations struggled to bring warring parties to peace talks in Geneva.
But the talks collapsed earlier this month after the northern Yemeni rebels refused to attend.
The Red Sea port city is a vital lifeline for aid shipments to Yemen, the most impoverished country in the Arab world.
The UN has warned that any major fighting could halt the distribution of food to eight million Yemenis dependent on aid to survive.
Disruption to supplies coming through Hodeida could “cause starvation on an unprecedented scale”, charity Save the Children said in a report yesterday.
An extra one million children now risk falling into famine as food and fuel prices soar, bringing the total to 5.2 million, the charity said.
Brigadier General Ali al-Taniji, commander of coalition forces on Yemen’s west coast, confirmed Tuesday that the alliance had launched an operation in Hodeida, in a statement to state media in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s main partner in the coalition.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior coalition official told AFP the operation was being fought on multiple fronts.
Residents in and around the city, home to 600,000 people, reported hearing explosions throughout Monday night.
“International food supply warehouses were targeted in Hodeida, a clear sign that there is a plan ... to make warehouses and densely populated neighbourhoods legitimate targets,” said the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Council, Mohammed Ali alHuthi.
He also accused the international community of being complicit in the attacks, saying “tolerance of terrorism has only encouraged (the coalition) to plan and deliberately commit crimes”.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not respond to a request for comment, while a World Food Programme spokeswoman declined to say whether the UN agency’s facilities had been hit.
Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Huthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeida, a charge the rebels and Tehran deny, and they have imposed a partial blockade on the port.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths is due in Riyadh on Wednesday, having left the Yemeni capital Sanaa after a three-day trip.
Progress was made to resume consultations and confidencebuilding measures, including the reopening of Sanaa airport to commercial flights and the release of prisoners, the envoy’s office said in a statement.
Griffiths is pushing for new peace negotiations after the Geneva talks failed to get off the ground, with the Huthis saying they had not received guarantees for their safe return home afterwards.
The UN has said it is working to open a humanitarian air bridge to transport Yemeni cancer patients abroad for treatment.
But the Huthis said plans to fly patients out of rebel-held Sanaa on Tuesday had been stopped by the coalition, accusing it of failing to cooperate. — AFP