COALITION ENDS US IN-FLIGHT REFUELLING
▶ Request made to stop support service for operations in Yemen
The Arab Coalition in Yemen said it would no longer need American air tankers to provide inflight refuelling for warplanes because it had developed its own ability to carry out the task.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the member countries of the coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen continually pursue improvements to military professionalism and self-sufficiency,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said the Pentagon supported the coalition’s decision to stop using American refuelling.
“The US will also continue working with the coalition and Yemen to minimise civilian casualties and expand urgent humanitarian efforts throughout the country,” Mr Mattis said.
The Pentagon provided midair refuelling for about 20 per cent of coalition planes flying over Yemen.
Mr Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days.
The United Nations pushed that deadline back to the end of this year.
The coalition reiterated its hope that the UN-sponsored negotiations with the Houthis in a third country, possibly Sweden, would “lead to a negotiated settlement” and “end the aggression” of the militias who overran major cities in Yemen from 2014 onwards.
Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies intervened in the conflict between the internationally recognised government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and the Iran-backed Houthis in March 2015.
Meanwhile, Yemen government forces made further gains in the rebel-held port of Hodeidah.
The Yemeni Joint Resistance on Friday took full control of the May 22 Hospital in Al Khamseen in the north-east of the city, amid a major collapse of the Houthi militia’s defences, Wam news agency reported yesterday.
Wam said that the Houthi rebels had been using the hospital as a military barracks.
It said that the medical staff there had been used as human shields in breach of international law.
Yemeni forces killed or captured dozens of Houthi fighters, taking full control of western areas of Hodeidah while continuing their advance towards the east.
Yemeni engineering teams dismantled Iranian-made mines and booby traps planted by the Houthi militia to slow the advancing forces. Some of the mines were hidden in bags of sugar and rice, or in fire extinguishers, SPA reported.
Troops from the National Resistance led by Maj Gen Tariq Saleh and the Al Amalikah Brigades took over large areas in eastern Hodeidah.
They recaptured a dairy plant and advanced towards Jazan Street, along the road linking Hodeidah to Saudi Arabia, about three kilometres from the ports, a resident said.
Abdulwahab Al Shoubail, a media activist, told The National that the joint forces were advancing steadily despite the large number of rebel snipers on rooftops in the city and mines.
“The Houthi forces are depleted. They have no forces fighting face to face on the ground but they are counting on the snipers and landmines.
“They are also using civilians trapped in the city as human shields. They prevent them from fleeing because they know that the coalition is keen to keep them safe, so they keep firing from residential areas in the city centre.”
Liberating the main Hodeidah port and the smaller Al Saleef port “is a matter of time, no more”, he said.
“The joint forces are very close to them, but they are paying a lot of attention to the civilians and to avoiding damaging the ports,” Mr Al Shoubail said.
In the Houthis’ stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, government troops reported their biggest success so far. Rebel leader Abdulmalik Al Houthi is believed to be in hiding there.
A source in the Third Brigade of the Yemeni army said that 200 fighters had been killed during attacks on rebel positions in the Marran district in recent days.
Government forces launched operations in Marran in August. Much of the modern weaponry the rebels looted from army bases after their uprising is believed to be stored in the district.