Coalition strikes airbase to stop Houthi attack
The Arab Coalition bombed an air base in Yemen’s rebel-held capital yesterday to prevent what it said was an attack on its forces by the Houthi militia.
The coalition struck the air base next to Sanaa’s international airport, destroying a rocket launcher and a drone that was preparing to carry out an attack.
The coalition said the Houthis were using the airport as a military camp in breach of international law.
But the ceasefire around the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah largely held yesterday.
Reopening Sanaa airport was among the key issues discussed in peace talks in Sweden this month, but the warring parties made no progress on the topic.
One proposal from the Hotuhi rebels was for Sanaa-bound aircraft to stop at another city in the region for inspection before proceeding to the Yemeni capital.
The internationally recognised government proposed that Sanaa-bound aircraft be inspected in the southern port city of Aden.
More discussions on the subject are expected in the second round of peace talks next month.
Also yesterday, the Yemeni government appointed three military commanders as representatives to a UN-organised committee that will be responsible for monitoring the ceasefire in Hodeidah.
Members of the Houthi group and UN mission to Yemen will join the government representatives to oversee the withdrawal of armed forces from the port city.
Brig Sagheer Aziz, Brig Mohamed Eidha and Maj Gen Ahmed Al Kukabani attended the first meeting for the Redeployment Co-ordination Committee yesterday. The Houthis have not yet named their representatives.
The committee will be given two weeks to organise the complete withdrawal of troops.
Martin Griffiths, the UN envoy to Yemen, said “neutral forces” would be given the task of maintaining security in the country’s biggest port, through which more than 70 per cent of aid enters a country with 14 million people on the brink of famine.
Meanwhile, Hodeidah’s deputy mayor, Waleed Al Qudaimi, said Houthis shelled pro-government forces on the outskirts of the city.
The Houthis claimed government forces were bombing rebel camps east of the airport and within the University of Hodeidah.
Col Withah Al Dubaish, spokesman of the Giant Brigade, a faction aligned with the Yemeni government, told
The National that his forces would respond to a breach of the truce by the Houthis.
“We are ready to inflict a fatal blow and finalise taking over the city and the ports in case the Houthis continue to break the ceasefire,” Col Al Dubaish said. The Giant Brigade has suspended all military operations but remains within striking distance of Hodeidah port.
“We stopped to give a chance for the international community to implement the political resolution, otherwise our response will be tough and strict, in case the Houthis keep playing their dirty game inside the city,” Col Al Dubaish said.
South of Hodeidah city, the Houthis shelled residences and attacked the market in the populated city of Hays.
More than 80 per cent of Hodeidah’s 650,000 residents have fled and settled in the surrounding areas, fearing renewed violence.
Many regard the recent clashes as a precursor to a breakdown in the political solution. Raed Shayef, a journalist working in Yemen, expects the ceasefire to break down within days.
“The Houthis are using this as an opportunity to muster their forces and then they will return to fighting,” Shayef said. “They would not accept handing over the city because that will cut them off their main supply route.”
Despite the turbulent ceasefire, the Yemeni military in the interim capital of Aden remain hopeful for a peaceful resolution to a war that has claimed thousands of lives and triggered the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
Col Mohammed Hizam of the army said the truce provided the Houthis with their only chance of survival.