Yemen pro-govt forces say main rebel Hodeida roads seized
ADEN: Yemeni government forces, backed by a Saudi- led coalition, on Wednesday seized rebel supply routes into the key port city of Hodeida, military sources said, days after UNbrokered peace talks failed.
Hodeida province is a major battleground in the war between Yemen’s Saudi- backed government and Huthi rebels linked to Iran, which has been accused of supplying weapons to the insurgents.
Abdulrahman Saleh Abou Zaraa, head of the brigade fighting the Huthis in the province, told AFP his forces had taken the insurgents’ main supply route linking the port city to rebel-held Sanaa, known as Kilo 16.
The Saudi- backed forces also seized a second supply route around Hodeida, known as Kilo 10, military sources said.
Roads linking the port city to Sanaa — both controlled by the Huthi rebels — are also used for the transport of imports and aid, most of which enter Yemen through the rebel-held Hodeida port.
The Saudi-led coalition accuses the Huthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeida and has imposed a partial blockade on the port, which the rebels seized in 2014.
A military source in the brigade fighting in Hodeida said Wednesday’s operation aimed to cut off supplies to the rebels.
The government coalition did not have immediate plans to try to take the city, the source said.
Fierce clashes broke out Wednesday between the Huthis and pro- government forces on the east and south of rebel- held Hodeida city, leaving dozens of fighters dead, according to military and medical sources.
Air strikes on Kilo 16 killed 11 people on Wednesday, seven of them rebel fighters and the rest civilians in a car, according to medical sources in Hodeida.
Rebel TV channel Al-Masirah said air strikes killed seven people and wounded others, without giving further details.
In their first reaction to reports that they had lost control of routes, the Huthis said they foiled an attack near Kilo 16, adding there had been around 50 air strikes.
The United Arab Emirates, a key member of the regional military alliance led by Saudi Arabia, provides extra boots on the ground for Yemeni troops fighting in the south, including in Hodeida province.
In June, the pro- government forces, led by the UAE, launched a major operation to retake both the city and the port of Hodeida.
The troops, backed by coalition states’ air forces, have retaken a number of towns across Hodeida province but have not yet breached the city. — AFP