Yemeni forces inching closer to Hodeida city
aden — Yemeni forces backed by Saudi-led coalition inched closer to the Red Sea port city of Hodeida on Sunday as they battled Iranianaligned Houthi fighters entrenched there, local military sources and residents said on Sunday.
The coalition has deployed thousands of troops to retake Hodeida, a vital entry point for imports and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis after more than three years of war.
Fighting was focused around the airport, and also at the eastern entrance to the city and near a university that lies 4km south of the port, which handles most of Yemen’s imports. “This is the first time clashes have reached this point (the university),” one Yemeni military source said.
Residents said they could hear exchanges of fire in the area.
The alliance faces a challenge to seize the heavily-defended city without causing heavy casualties at time of increasing global scrutiny over the war.
The alliance of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in Yemen in 2015 to oust the Houthis and restore the internationally recognised government. A previous attempt to take the city in June ran into difficulties and was halted ahead of UN-led peace consultations in Geneva which collapsed in September after the Houthis failed to show up. —
hodeida — Dozens of Yemeni rebels have been killed in battles and air strikes in Hodeida, medics said on Sunday, as pro-government forces advanced in the insurgentheld Red Sea port city.
Fifty-three Houthi rebels were killed and dozens were injured over the past 24 hours, medical sources in Hodeida said.
Clashes intensified in the city and centred around its university on Saturday and Sunday morning, a pro-government military official said.
Houthi media reported air strikes in Hodeida on Sunday but did not give a fighter casualty toll.
Military officials said Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes to support progovernment forces in the fighting which began on Thursday evening. Thirteen pro-government troops were killed, medical sources in Aden and Mokha — where the fighters were transported — told the news agency.
The clashes erupted just hours after the government said on Thursday it was ready to restart peace talks with the Iran-backed Houthis.
The offer followed a surprise call by the United States for an end to the Yemen war, including air strikes by the coalition.
Hodeida port is the entry point for more than 70 per cent of imports into the impoverished country, which is teetering on the edge of famine.
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, a special envoy for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), appealed for an immediate ceasefire. “As an international community we have been shamefully slow to act to end the crisis in Yemen,” she said in a statement during a trip to South Korea.
“We have watched the situation deteriorate to the point that Yemen is now on the brink of man-made famine, and facing the worst cholera epidemic in the world in decades,” Jolie added.
“The only way to enable refugees to return home, and to bring down the overall numbers worldwide, is to end conflicts themselves.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday had called for a halt to violence to pull Yemen back from the “precipice”.
After UN-backed peace talks collapsed in September, the coalition announced it was relaunching an assault on Hodeida.
Yemeni government officials said on Tuesday that the coalition had sent more than 10,000 new troops towards the battleground city.
Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the war in 2015 to bolster Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after the rebels took over the capital Sanaa and drove the government further south to Aden.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have since been killed. —
We have watched the situation deteriorate to the point that Yemen is now on the brink of man-made famine, and facing the worst cholera epidemic in the world in decades.
Angelina Jolie, Special envoy for the UNHCR