We will fight to the death, vow rebels holding Yemeni city

A SAUDI-LED coalition seized the airport of the Yemeni port city Hodeidah in a major setback for Iranian-linked Houthi rebels, who have threatened to lay waste to the city as they defend it.

The coalition forces, comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemeni allies, hope to take the main port, but the fighting is likely to exacerbate a humanitarian crisis in the ravaged country where an estimated 8.4 million people are thought to be on the verge of starvation.

The assault on Hodeidah, which has spilt into residential areas, aims at ending a stalemate following the Saudi-led intervention in 2015 to force out the Houthis, who had seized Sanaa, the capital. The fighting has already cut off water supplies, stoking fears of a cholera epidemic.

“The liberation of Hodeidah is the beginning to ending the war,” wrote Anwar Gargash, the UAE state minister for foreign affairs, on Twitter. The coalition had launched its assault a week ago, promising a swift victory.

The United Nations has called on the Houthis to leave Hodeidah. The rebels, whom the coalition accuses of smuggling in Iranian-made ballistic missiles launched against Saudi Arabia, have vowed to fight to the death.

“Because Hodeidah is a matter of life or death, the free people have chosen to die with dignity defending it,” wrote Houthi official, Hasan Zeid, on Twitter.

Abdel Malik al-houthi, the rebels’ leader, denied that Iranian missiles had come through the Red Sea port.

Meanwhile, allegations that Yemenis have been raped in a Uae-run detention centre will place further scrutiny on the US and Uk-backed coalition.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said Britain was “concerned” by the allegations.