Yemen clashes leave 149 dead
Loyalists battle to oust Huthi rebels from Hodeida port city
HODEIDA: At least 149 people have been killed in 24 hours of clashes in Yemen’s vital port city of Hodeida, medics and military sources said, as international pressure mounted for a ceasefire.
Government loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition are fighting to oust Huthi rebels from the Red Sea city, whose port is a lifeline to 14 million Yemenis who face mass starvation.
A source in the pro-government coalition yesterday said the insurgents had pushed back a large-scale assault on the rebel-held port.
Government forces, led on the ground by Emirati-backed troops, have made their way into rebelheld Hodeida after 11 days of clashes, reaching residential neighbourhoods in the east on Sunday and sparking fears of street fights that would further endanger civilians trapped in the city.
Residents and government military sources have reported rebel snipers stationed on rooftops in civilian streets in eastern Hodeida, a few miles from the port on the western edge of the city.
Mariam Aldogani, Save the Children’s field coordinator in Yemen, said that the people in Hodeida are living in a “state of fear”.
“There is ongoing fighting, and the situation is very bad,” she said over the weekend by phone, as strikes were heard in the background.
The Hodeida offensive has sparked international outcry unprecedented in nearly four years of conflict between Yemen’s Huthis, who are linked to Iran, and the Saudi-backed government.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a major ally of Washington, to engage in peace talks.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is on a visit to Saudi Arabia, where he will press King Salman and Prince Mohammed to support UN efforts to end the conflict, the Foreign Office said.
Both the United States and Britain are major suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Aid groups fear for the safety of nearly 600,000 people living in Hodeida – and for millions of others dependent on its port for what little food and humanitarian aid trickle into impoverished, blockaded Yemen.
A military official in Hodeida yesterday confirmed seven civilians had died, without giving further details.
Medics in hospitals across the city reported 110 rebels and 32 loyalist fighters killed overnight, according to a tally.