Rebel-held Yemen airport attacked

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen yesterday carried out airstrikes on the airport in the rebel-held port city of Hodeida.

Fighting raged on for the fifth day in the port city that is a lifeline to most of Yemen’s population.

The airstrikes by the coalition forces were carried out in support of ground troops loyal to the internationally recognised exiled government, as they attempt to retake the airport.

Wtnesses said the airstrikes echoed across the city but the scale of the damage to the airport couldn’t be immediately assessed. Security officials said the Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, are holed up in the airport as the coalition forces attempt to drive them out.

The United Nations and aid groups have cautioned that a protracted fight could force a shutdown of Hodeida’s port at a time when a halt in aid risks tipping millions into starvation. Seventy per cent of Yemen’s food comes in at the port.