Government troops gain ground in battle for Hodeidah
forces and allies fought Yemen’s Houthi rebels near the port city of Hodeidah for a second day yesterday after capturing ground overnight.
There were fierce clashes in Kaws Al Naser near the Kilo 16 area yesterday morning but neither side made gains, military sources told The National.
The latest battle for the rebel-held city was launched after government forces and the Saudi-led Arab Coalition put thousands of troops around the city over the past week.
A spokesman for the government forces said the offensive would continue until Hodeidah was retaken.
Al Amalikah Brigades were holding territory captured on Friday night against attacks by the Iran-backed rebels, who brought in hundreds of fighters from Amran province in civilian vehicles along the road linking Hodeidah and Hajjah province to the north, the military sources said.
Three members of the brigade’s media arm were injured by a mortar shell, two of them seriously, while reporting from the Kilo 16 area.
Al Amalikah Brigades backed by coalition forces, including artillery units, launched their offensive from the south and east of the city on Friday, supported by air strikes from F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters, said Saber Abdulwahed, who is with the Yemeni forces.
They passed the Kilo 16 area and reached Kaws Al Naser, where coalition Apaches carried out more 30 than air strikes on Friday, Abdulwahed said.
Residents of Hodeidah said the Houthis burnt tyres to reduce visibility for coalition aircraft and blocked the road linking the city centre to Kilo 16 with empty containers from the port.
They said there were fierce clashes since Friday morning along the road leading to the University of Hodeidah, the airport ring road, Al Rabsa neighbourhood and Al Thawra hospital, which the rebels turned into a military site.
The renewed push to retake Hodeidah, the entry point for about 70 per cent of Yemen’s food and aid imports, comes amid growing international pressure for a new round of peace talks to end the threeyear conflict.
On Friday the UN Secretary
General, Antonio Guterres, called on both sides to stop fighting and negotiate without conditions with UN special envoy Martin Griffiths.
“The international community has a real opportunity to halt the senseless cycle of violence and to prevent an imminent catastrophe,” Mr Guterres said. “The time to act is now.”
His remarks came just days after the US, which supports the Saudi-led coalition, called for a ceasefire in Yemen and for peace talks to begin this month.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for an end to hostilities. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the truce should happen within 30 days and lead to UN-brokered talks.
Mr Griffiths, who met US officials in Washington late last month, plans to convene the talks in Sweden.
“There is now an opportunity for peace in Yemen,” Mr Guterres said on Friday.
A coalition-backed campaign to liberate the city was frozen this year to allow UN peace negotiations in Geneva, but the rebels refused to attend.
A spokesman for Al Amalikah Brigades said the new offensive would continue until the city was liberated from the rebels.
“The Houthis have wreaked havoc in the port city and it is time to sweep them out to end the suffering of the civilians and to cut their supplies, which still come from Iran through the port of Hodeidah,” Col Mamoon Al Mahjami said.
The rebels are holding 16 ships carrying food and fuel in Hodeidah port and the smaller Saleef port, Al Arabiya news channel reported.
Their cargo includes medicine, medical equipment, maize, soy, wheat, flour, sugar and liquefied gas.
The Yemen war began when the Houthis invaded the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and toppled the internationally recognised government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.
The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 to support the government at Mr Hadi’s request.
The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people, destroyed health and public services, and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said last week there was a “clear and present danger of an imminent and big famine engulfing Yemen”, which could affect half the population.