Yemen attack rebel-held port

18 AIR STRIKES: UNITED NATIONS WARNS OF ‘CATASTROPHIC IMPACT ON INNOCENT CIVILIANS’

Hodeida serves as entry point for 70% of imports as country faces famine.

Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition launched a major offensive yesterday to retake the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, despite United Nations (UN) warnings of a “catastrophic humanitarian impact”.

Field commanders said troops pushed towards Hodeida airport after Yemeni pro-government forces received a “green light” from the coalition.

The offensive is controversial because the port serves as the entry point for 70% of Yemen’s imports as the country teeters on the brink of famine.

The coalition accuses the Huthi rebels of using the port to secure Iranian arms, notably the ballistic missiles the militants have increasingly fired into Saudi territory.

Coalition sources said the alliance carried out 18 air strikes on Huthi positions on the outskirts of Hodeida yesterday.

According to medical sources in the province, 22 Huthi fighters were killed by coalition raids, while three pro-government fighters were killed in a rebel ambush south of Hodeida.

The port city, home to 600 000 people, was captured by the Iran-backed insurgents in 2014, along with the capital Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and a bloc of other countries intervened in Yemen the following year with the goal of restoring the government to power.

Yemen’s government said negotiations had failed to force the rebels from Hodeida, and a grace period for UN-led peace efforts was over.

“All peaceful and political means of removing the Huthi militia from Hodeida port have been exhausted,” the government said in a statement carried by Yemen’s state news agency Saba.

The United Nations on Monday withdrew its international staff from Hodeida, saying an attack would “impact hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians”.

The UN has warned that the likely “catastrophic humanitarian impact” would be worsened due to Hodeida’s key role as an entry point for aid and commercial

goods. “Cutting off imports through Hodeida for any length of time will put Yemen’s population at extreme, unjustifiable risk,” Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said. The UAE, a pillar of the anti-Huthi coalition, says retaking Hodeida is necessary to force the rebels to make concessions. “The liberation of the city and port will create a new reality and bring the Huthis to the negotiations,” Emirati State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted on Tuesday. – AFP

Peaceful means of removing Huthis have been exhausted