Operation to liberate Hodeida launched
GOVERNMENT SLAMS UN AGENCY’S AGREEMENT WITH AL HOUTHIS ON ‘MEDICAL AIR BRIDGE’
The Arab Coalition has announced the start of a major military operation in areas controlled by Al Houthi militias to liberate Hodeida.
The operation was launched following the reinforcement of troops in the Kilo 16 area, the cutting off of Al Houthi supply lines between Sana’a and Hodeida and the confining of the militias to the city.
The Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces are continuing their military operation in the west coast of Yemen with the participation of the Yemeni joint resistance forces through rapid strategic military plans, Commander of the Arab Coalition in western Yemen Brigadier Ali Al Tunaiji told WAM.
With the coalition forces controlling the strategic areas in Hodeida and cutting off the supply lines, the Al Houthi posts are collapsing and the militias are fleeing from battle fronts, leaving behind their equipment and weapons as well as their dead, he added.
The military operation has led to full control of Kilo 7 and Kilo 10 areas and the reinforcement of the forces in the Kilo 16 area. Dozens of Al Houthis have either been killed or have been held or have surrendered.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Al Houthi militia have set conditions that do not give hope there will be any political solution reached anytime soon. Just before their meeting with UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, who arrived in Sana’a on Sunday, the militiamen demanded the wages of all state employees in cash in all provinces, and the reopening of Sana’a International Airport for commercial and international flights.
The Saudi-led coalition accuses Al Houthis of taking advantage of their control of Hodeida port to obtain weapons from their Iranian patrons as well as confiscate aid intended for Yemenis in order to sustain their war efforts.
In June, the government forces, backed by the coalition air power, started a major offensive to expel Al Houthis from Hodeida in western Yemen.
The campaign was temporarily halted in support of UN efforts to revive Yemen’s longstalled peacemaking.
In the past few days, the government loyalists have resumed the Hodeida battle and were able to seize control of the strategically important district of Kilo 16 east of the city.
The breakthrough blocked a main rebel supply route linking Hodeida to the capital Sana’a being controlled by Al Houthis. ■
Griffiths is due to meet a number of Al Houthi leaders and officials from the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress during his visit to Sana’a. Saleh was brutally killed by the militia last year.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government has criticised the UN humanitarian aid agency’s agreement with Al Houthis on a “medical air bridge” to evacuate civilians for medical treatment. The airlift would include those who suffer from chronic and critical health issues such as cancer or kidney trouble. Minister of Information, Muammar Al Iryani, said the agreement was a “dangerous development”, which was also a violation of international resolutions on the Yemeni conflict, including UN Resolution 2216.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said late Sunday its Yemen coordinator, Lise Grande, signed a deal to allow for “medical transfer of critically ill patients, by chartered air flight, to a medical facility that is equipped to manage such cases”.
The World Health Organisation’s Yemen representative, Dr Nevio Zagaria, said 12 “conditions” had been agreed on.