COALITION STRIKES ON REBEL-HELD HODEIDAH RESUME

Mike Pompeo assures US Congress UAE and Saudi are protecting civilians

The Arab Coalition yesterday resumed air strikes on the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah in Yemen after the postponement of UN-led peace talks in Geneva.

The air campaign resumed after a two-month ceasefire.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress yesterday that he believed the Arab Coalition was working to protect civilians and bring an end to the war.

“I certified to Congress yesterday that the governments of Saudi Arabia and UAE are undertaking demonstrable action to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure resulting from military operations of these governments,” Mr Pompeo said.

His certification is required every six months by new legislation authorising US military support to the coalition, including advanced weapons, sharing intelligence and offering aerial refuelling to Arabian Gulf warplanes.

As the battle for Hodeidah resumes, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, said the only way to win the war in Yemen was by liberating Hodeidah.

The Houthis’ refusal to attend peace talks in Geneva was proof the liberation of Hodeidah was necessary, Dr Gargash said.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, had tried to bring the Houthis to the negotiating table last week to discuss ending their rebellion against the internationally recognised government of President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi.

After the offensive resumed,

at least 100 Houthis were injured or killed, Sky News Arabia reported.

Earlier yesterday, Yemen’s pro-government Al Amalikah brigades retook a stretch of the road near Hodeidah, cutting off a major Houthi supply route. The road runs from the port city to other rebel-held areas, and links Ibb, Taez and Aden to the south.

Al Amalikah soldiers are now expected to push into the city towards the corniche and university, a military source told The National.

Those soldiers are taking great pains to protect civilian life, said Aseel Al Sakladi, spokesman for Al Amalikah brigades.

“Some civilians, especially those coming from Ibb province and Sanaa, still come across the intersection in Kilo 16 despite our continuous warnings,” Mr Al Sakladi said.

Houthi rebels have been shelling homes and farms between the retaken road east of Hodeidah, local civilians said.

Seven farmers were killed as well as hundreds of cows and goats, a resident said.

In Al Marawyah, east of Hodeidah, reports emerged of young men being forced by Houthis to take up arms.

“On Monday the Houthis stormed the residence of a citizen called Faris Al Askari because he refused to send his young sons to fight with them,” activist Sami Bari said. “They took him along with his two young sons to prison.”

Mr Bari said Houthi rebels had also used civilians as human shields.

“They have erected anti-aircraft weapons on the roof of a primary school, which forced all of the students who were

starting the new year to flee,” Mr Bari said.

Meanwhile in Washington, the UAE’s Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, made a case for continued US-UAE co-operation in Yemen to defeat extremists.

Writing in The Washington Post, Mr Al Otaiba hailed successes against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He referred to the killing of bomb-maker Ibrahim Al Asiri last month in “a closely co-ordinated intelligence and military operation between the UAE and the US”.

Mr Al Otaiba said that when the war started in 2015, Aqap was thriving. Now it has lost more than 2,000 fighters, and Yemen had “improved security and delivered humanitarian and development assistance to the port city of Mukalla and other liberated areas”.

But he cautioned that Aqap was not the only threat to peace and stability in Yemen.

“The other is Iran and its Hezbollah-like proxy group, the Houthis, who triggered the current political and humanitarian crisis in Yemen” when overthrowing the government in 2015, Mr Al Otaiba said.

He accused Iran of “providing the Houthis some of most sophisticated weaponry” such as“anti-ship missiles and remotely guided explosive boats launched at naval vessels and commercial oil tankers; hundreds of ballistic missiles, rockets and armed aerial drones targeting cities and civilians in Saudi Arabia; and more than half a million landmines and improvised explosive devices indiscriminately placed with devastating consequences for the Yemeni people”.

Mr Al Otaiba said the UAE, as part of the Arab Coalition, “is making significant progress against the Houthis”.

He condemned Qatar’s role in Yemen “as the favoured benefactor of Islamic extremism”.

“Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to offer Qatar’s support with expanded maritime co-operation, investment incentives and construction contracts,” Mr Al Otaiba said.

He accused Qatar’s flagship Eid Charity of lavishing millions in Yemen on “Aqap ringleader Abd Al Wahhab Al Humayqani, who previously worked in Qatar’s ministry of religious affairs”.

Ambassador Al Otaiba stressed the need for US-UAE co-operation as Qatar and Iran continued to interfere in Yemen