Fears were growing of a humanitarian crisis in Yemen after Saudi Arabia-backed government forces launched a series of attacks on rebel-held Hodeida, as a charity yesterday warned that more than 5 million children were at risk of famine in the war-torn state.
The Houthi rebels accused the government and its Saudi Arabia-led allies of deliberately targeting food warehouses as the coalition said it had resumed a “military operation to liberate Hodeida and its port.”
Pro-government forces and medical sources in Hodeida Province said that 40 Houthis had been killed around the embattled city since Monday night.
The fight for Hodeida, which the Houthis seized in 2014, was put on hold for 11 weeks as the UN struggled to bring warring parties to peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, but the talks collapsed earlier this month after the northern Yemeni rebels refused to attend.
The Red Sea port city is a vital lifeline for aid shipments to Yemen, the most impoverished nation in the Arab world.
The UN has warned that any major fighting could halt the distribution of food to 8 million Yemenis dependent on aid to survive.
Disruption to supplies coming through Hodeida could “cause starvation on an unprecedented scale,” charity Save the Children said in a report.
An extra 1 million children now risk falling into famine as food and fuel prices soar, bringing the total to 5.2 million, the charity said.
Brigadier General Ali al-Taniji, commander of coalition forces on Yemen’s west coast, on Tuesday confirmed that the alliance had launched an operation in Hodeida, in a statement to state media in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s main partner in the coalition.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior coalition official said the operation was being fought on multiple fronts.
Residents in and around the city, home to 600,000 people, reported hearing explosions throughout Monday night.
“International food supply warehouses were targeted in Hodeida, a clear sign that there is a plan ... to make warehouses and densely populated neighborhoods legitimate targets,” said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Council.
He also accused the international community of being complicit in the attacks, saying “tolerance of terrorism has only encouraged [the coalition] to plan and deliberately commit crimes.”
A spokesman for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition did not respond to a request for comment, while a World Food Programme spokeswoman declined to say whether the UN agency’s facilities had been hit.
Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Houthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeida, a charge the rebels and Tehran deny, and they have imposed a partial blockade on the port.
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