Yemen govt launches new offensive to retake Hodeida
aden — Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition launched on Friday a “vast offensive” to take full control of the port city of Hodeida, the internationally recognised government based in the southern city of Aden said.
The announcement came as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that many people remained trapped in the city by the fighting. It also said nearly half a million people have fled the area since June.
The medics said that 110 rebels and 22 loyalists were killed in the last 24 hours in Hodeida.
“A military operation has begun and the national army forces have advanced towards the north and the western sides of the city of Hodeida, progressing on all fronts with the support of the Arab coalition,” the government said in a statement.
“Fierce battles are taking place at these moments.”
The Red Sea port of Hodeida has become a key battleground in Yemen’s nearly four-year-long war, which pits the Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa. The Houthis have held Hodeida since 2014.
Hours after Friday’s announcement of a new offensive, residents said the Houthis had withdrawn from a hospital in the eastern suburbs of Hodeida where fighting has been concentrated in recent days but they remained in the area.
UN bodies have warned that an all-out attack on Hodeida, an entry point for 80 per cent of Yemen’s food imports and aid relief, could trigger famine in the impoverished state.
The United States and Britain have stepped up calls for a ceasefire in Yemen
The UNHCR expressed alarm over the fate of unknown numbers of people trapped in Hodeida by the latest fighting.
“As testament to how dire the situation is, some 445,000 people from Al Hodeida Governorate have been forced to flee since June, according to UN data,” spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.
Some of them have fled to other parts of Hodeida province and some to other areas of Yemen, she said.
The province of Hodeida, including the port city, had a population of 2.6 million in 2011, four years before the civil war erupted, according to Yemeni statistics.
“While the number of those remaining in Hodeida city is difficult to gauge, UNHCR is worried that people needing to flee for safety aren’t able to do so. They are trapped by military operations, which are increasingly confining populations and cutting off exit routes,” Mantoo said.
The UNHCR appealed to all sides to allow access to its warehouse stocked with emergency shelter and essential aid items that it said had been cut off by an active front line.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday
110
Rebels and 22 loyalists were killed in the last 24 hours in Hodeida
445K People have been forced to flee from Al Hodeida Governorate
it planned to double its food assistance programme for Yemen, aiming to reach up to 14 million people “to avert mass starvation”.