Country’s future rests on Hodeidah’s fate

The battle for the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah will be a the biggest battle of the three-year civil war since the Iran-backed Houthi rebels ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, and captured large areas of the country’s northern areas.

More importantly, the liberation of the city from its Houthi hold will open up deliveries to the country gripped in a humanitarian crisis.

The country relies on food and fuel deliveries by seaport but the Houthis have controlled this vital access point for years.

As observers have noted, the strengthening of government-held ports has only benefited fuel imports and especially consumer goods. The same will be true of Hodeidah once it is back in Yemeni government hands.

The port is crucial to restoring control to the legitimate government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi. It is Yemen’s largest and the entry point for 90 per cent of its food imports and most of the aid sent to the country.

The city borders some of the most strategic Houthi-held areas and serves as the supply centre for tens of thousands of rebels, including those fighting in southern Yemen.

The Houthis have held control over Hodeidah since the rebel overthrow of the government in 2015, and have used the port in other ways than for humanitarian purposes.

In 2015, the Saudi-led Arab coalition supporting the government found that the Iran-backed rebels were using the Red Sea port to smuggle in weapons sent by Tehran and destroyed much of the facility in response.

Securing Yemen’s largest port city would protect international trade from the threat of Houthi disruption. In 2016, a UN-chartered ship carrying humanitarian aid was forced to turn back after coming under Houthi fire.

Hodeidah provides access to – and potentially control of – the Bab Al Mandeb, the strait between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The Bab Al Mandeb, the fastest route from Europe to Asia, is 30 kilometres wide at its narrowest, making it vulnerable to attacks.

Bab Al Mandeb, which translates to Gate of Tears, is the fourth busiest shipping chokepoint in the world. More than four million barrels of oil pass through daily.

Last month a Saudi oil tanker came under attack from Houthi naval forces.

Control of Hodeidah would provide a strategic base from which to launch a campaign to recapture Sanaa, less than a day’s drive from the city.

The Arab Coalition says recapturing Hodeidah would provide an opportunity to provide much-needed humanitarian aid before a possible second cholera outbreak.

Last year, more than a million residents of the Arab world’s poorest country contracted the disease. It was the worst cholera outbreak in recent history; more than 2,000 people died.

As Yemeni and coalition forces close in on the Houthis holed up in the city, an important victory lies on the horizon.