Coalition sends more troops to Yemeni city

aden — The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen has sent more than 10,000 new troops towards a vital rebel-held port city ahead of a new assault, Yemeni government officials said on Tuesday.

The pro-government coalition deployed the reinforcements to the Red Sea coast ahead of a new offensive on Hodeida “within days”, a military official said. He said they would also “secure areas liberated” from the Iran-linked Houthi rebels, and that forces from Sudan, part of the coalition, had moved in to “secure” areas around the city.

Houthi rebels have for the past 10 days been stationing fighters on rooftops of buildings in Hodeida city, government military officials said.

The adjacent port is the entry point for more than 70 per cent of imports to the impoverished country, which is teetering on the edge of famine. —

aden — A Saudi oil tanker carrying the first batch of petroleum products worth $60 million arrived at Yemen’s Aden port on Monday, to help power electricity stations and prop up the war-torn country’s sagging economy, officials said.

The aid, meant to ease crippling power cuts, marks the latest economic assistance offered by the kingdom as Yemen — already on the brink of famine — reels from an economic downturn that has left many unable to afford food staples.

“A Saudi tanker reached Aden carrying the first instalment of oil derivatives such as diesel and mazut, worth $60 million,” a Saudi government statement said.

“They are meant to be supplied to power stations in provinces liberated by the Yemeni government.” Yemen’s central bank governor Mohamed Zemam told AFP the monthly aid will help the struggling government divert an average of $50 million per month that it currently spends on electricity to sectors such as healthcare and education.

The assistance comes after Saudi Arabia deposited $200 million in Yemen’s central bank earlier this month to help stem a slide in the riyal.

The oil-rich kingdom, which leads a coalition supporting the beleaguered government in its fight against Houthi rebels, already deposited $2 billion in the central bank in January to support the Yemeni currency.

The riyal has lost more than twothirds of its value against the dollar since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the government’s fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

UN-backed efforts to jumpstart peace talks in Yemen have so far failed to yield results.

Overseeing the fuel aid delivery in Aden on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, said: “Development of Yemen can’t wait for the Houthi militias to accept political solutions.”

The UN has warned that 14 million people now face a serious threat of famine. —

A Saudi tanker reached Aden carrying the first installment of oil derivatives such as diesel and mazut, worth $60 million

Saudi statement