Yemen rebel-held city’s airport is seized by Saudi-led forces amid UN warnings

SAUDI-LED FORCES heading an assault on Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeida have seized control of its international airport, officials loyal to Yemen’s exiled government said.

It came as fierce fighting continued for the starving nation’s main gateway for food shipments.

Engineers worked from Saturday morning to clear mines from areas around Hodeida International Airport, just south of the city of 600,000 people on the Red Sea, the military of Yemen’s exiled government said.

Yemen’s Shi’ite rebels known as Houthis, who hold the country’s capital of Sanaa, did not immediately acknowledge losing the airport.

The Saudi-led coalition began its assault on Hodeida on Wednesday.

Emirati forces are leading ground forces mixed with their own troops, irregular militiamen and soldiers backing Yemen’s exiled government.

Saudi Arabia has provided air support, with targeting guidance and refuelling coming from the US. International aid groups and the United Nations cautioned the Saudi-led coalition from launching the assault.

Their fear is 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.

Some 70 per cent of Yemen’s food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of humanitarian aid and fuel supplies.

About two thirds of the country’s population of 27 million rely on aid and 8.4 million are already at risk of starving.

The Saudi-led coalition says it had no choice but to launch the assault as the port provided millions of dollars for the Houthis through customs controls.

They also accuse the Houthis of using the port to smuggle weapons through, something the UN has described as “unlikely”.

The UN and West say Iran has supplied the Houthis with weapons, including missiles they have fired deep into Saudi Arabia, including the capital Riyadh.