Coalition commits to peace as clashes rage
74 AL HOUTHIS KILLED IN BATTLES NEAR YEMEN’S HODEIDA PORT
The Yemeni army said yesterday that its forces, backed by a Saudi-led Arab alliance, have made further advances in Hodeida as part of a new operation that started days ago to liberate the Red Sea city and its crucial port from Iran-allied Al Houthi militants.
Medics at two hospitals in Hodeida province said they had counted the bodies of 74 militiamen and dozens of wounded. Sources at a military hospital in government-held Mokha, south of Hodeida, said 15 troops were killed over the same period.
The government forces captured major facilities in the eastern section of Hodeida city, including silos and flour mills after fierce fight against Al Houthis, the army said.
The pro-government force known as the ‘Giants Battalions’ said it inflicted heavy casualties and hardware losses on Al Houthi militiamen in fighting east of Hodeida.
Free treatment
Fighting is also escalating around the Hodeida University campus in the south-west of the city.
Al Houthis are forcing private medical centres in Hodeida to treat for free their militiamen injured in battles as public hospitals find it hard to cope with the rise in casualty tolls, a medical source in the city told news portal Adan Al Ghad. Fighting, meanwhile, was raging yesterday near the Hodeida port through which most humanitarian aid and imports to Yemen go.
Keeping port open
However, a source in the Arab coalition said the clashes were not “offensive operations”.
The source said that the alliance, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is “committed to keeping the port open.
The operation to regain rebel-controlled Hodeida began on Thursday amid international calls for Yemen’s warring sides to accept a ceasefire and opt for UN-sponsored peace talks.
Yemeni military officials said the coalition had sent fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters yesterday morning to back up troops on the ground around Hodeida.
The officials say government forces are trying to advance on the outskirts of Hodeida with the aim of surrounding the city and cutting off a major rebel supply route.
Yemen has experienced a worsening humanitarian crisis since late 2014 when they deposed the internationally recognised government and overran parts of the poor country including the capital Sana’a and Hodeida.
Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015 with the aim of bolstering President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the face of the Al Houthi insurgency.