Houthis in ‘state of panic and collapse’ over coalition onslaught for city
Yemeni forces have advanced to within 50 kilometres of the strategic Hodeidah port in a large-scale offensive on the country’s western coast.
Houthi rebels were left in “an unprecedented state of confusion, panic and major collapse” as a result of the surprise military operation, UAE state media Wam reported.
UAE forces operating in the Saudi-led Arab Coalition provided support to the Yemeni National Army, the Tihama Resistance Forces and Giant Brigades, which were advancing towards the Al Jah area in the Bayt Al Faqih District of Hodeidah governorate.
The advancing forces seized large quantities of weapons, ammunition, equipment and vehicles after rebels fled from Al Mugris in the Tahita District.
The developments on the ground came as Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy to Yemen, was set to arrive in Aden to meet President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, leader of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
In a statement on Twitter, Griffiths said he would discuss developments in Hodiedah and efforts to restart the political process, as well as the need to end the military offensive.
The envoy has been shuttling between international parties and local actors to negotiate a withdrawal of Houthi forces, so far without success.
In recent weeks, the Houthi militias, which are backed by Iran, have been losing ground as Yemeni forces make sweeping advances towards Hodeidah.
Wam described the recent operation as a severe blow for the rebels, who are said to have suffered heavy casualties.
“Tens of their fighters fled the battlegrounds,” Wam said.
A Yemeni military source said the coalition’s air support had been critical in liberating a number of strategic areas, including Zubaid and Jubaliya Junctions, Matina, Al Mugris, Al Mujalis and Al Suwaiq.
“The successive fatal blows have paralysed and confused the militias, leaving them unable to withdraw their weapons and dead bodies,” the source stated. “Many desperate and defeated rebels have been arrested by the resistance forces.”
With the recent advances by Yemeni forces along the Red Sea Coast, the Houthi uprising may be nearing its end, Wam said.
Meanwhile, a report published by Saudi Arabia found that landmines laid by Houthis in Yemen between 2014 and 2016 had killed more than 1,500 people and injured 3,000.
Saudi Arabia, which is leading the coalition forces , is working to help clear liberated areas of mines and to educate the nine million people on the dangers of the anti-personnel devices.
Launched by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, US$40 million (Dh146.8m) will be allocated to the Life Without Landmines project. It has already provided victims of landmines with 305 prosthetic limbs.
Since the start of the war in 2015, the Houthis have planted more than 600,000 landmines across Yemen and 130,000 seamines along the country’s Red Sea coast, the report said.
“The Houthis are manufacturing and planting mines targeting unarmed civilians, causing permanent casualties and loss of life,” said Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah, director general of the centre.
Human Rights Watch said Houthi rebels have used landmines in at least six provinces since the coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015.
The coalition has cleared more than 20,000 of them, but they will take many years to remove or destroy them all.
“We need decades to uproot them. Farmers will not be able to return to cultivate their land, pastoralists will not be able to graze their livestock and fishermen will face the dangers of seamines,” said Khalid Hussein Al Yamani, the Yemeni Foreign Minister.
He described the project as a model to follow for safety in the country, calling it “a lifeline in the face of the death project”.