Forces from a Saudi Arabia-led coalition were yesterday poised to enter the airport of Yemen’s main port, Hodeidah, as the Arab alliance prepared to seize the city in the biggest battle of a three-year war.
Coalition warplanes pounded coastal areas southeast of the Houthi-held city as residents marked the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by gathering at dawn in an open area for Eid al-Fitr prayers.
Forces of the Western-backed coalition, led by Emirati troops, have advanced to within meters of the airport, Saudi Arabia-owned al-Arabiya TV quoted Yemeni military officials as saying.
Photo: AFP
Warplanes also struck the main road linking Hodeidah to the capital, Sana’a, to block reinforcements to the Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement that controls the capital and most of Yemen’s populated areas.
The UN, which has said the war has created the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis, is struggling to avert disruption to Hodeidah.
The port is the main lifeline for food aid to a country where 8.4 million people are facing starvation.
A UN diplomatic source said five commercial vessels were offloading at the port.
“I urge all parties to the conflict to meet their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and take active steps to respect international humanitarian law,” World Food Programme executive director David Beasleye said in a statement.
Capturing Hodeidah would give the Arab coalition the upper hand in the war, in which neither side has made much progress since it intervened in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government in exile.
Many residents have fled the city.
The UN has said 22 million Yemenis need humanitarian aid and the number at risk of starvation could more than double to more than 18 million by year-end unless access improves.
Coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have said that there are plans to prevent the battle from worsening the humanitarian disaster and that they would be able to improve food supplies once they control Hodeidah, the Houthis’ only port.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have said the Houthis are a proxy force for Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional archrival.
The Houthis, from a Shiite minority, deny being Tehran’s pawns and have said that they took power in a popular revolt and are defending Yemen from invasion by its neighbors.
Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi late on Thursday called on his followers to head to the front lines to fight the “instruments of the United States and Israel.”
The Western-backed alliance has said capturing Hodeidah would deprive the Houthis of their main source of income and prevent them from bringing in missiles, dozens of which have been fired at Saudi Arabia.
The US and other Western powers have provided arms and intelligence to the coalition.
Human rights groups have criticized them over airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians.
The US rejected a request from the United Arab Emirates for intelligence, mine-sweeping and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets for the Hodeidah operation, an Emirati official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, while noting congressional opposition.
However, the official said France had agreed to provide mine-sweeping support for the operation.
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