‘Saudi-Backed Forces Claim Control of Hudaydah Airport’
ADEN (Dispatches) – Fears of a humanitarian crisis in Yemen’s main port city Hudaydah grew as battles spilled into residential districts on Wednesday after Arab coalition forces seized the airport from the Houthi fighters.
Residents said coalition aircraft were bombing Houthi positions on roads leading to the airport as the group dug in against an onslaught by the Arab alliance to take the city, the Houthis’ main port and the lifeline for millions of Yemenis.
Brigadier Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, a Saudi-led coalition commander in Yemen's Red Sea coast, said in a video posted by the UAE’s official WAM news agency on Wednesday that the Hudaydah airport is "completely cleared” and "under control.”
However, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a top figure in the Houthi movement’s Supreme Political Council, had early on Wednesday rejected reports of the airport’s seizure by the Saudi-led aggressor.
Shehi’s remarks came one day after the Saudi-led troops announced that they had entered the main compound of the Hudaydah airport amid a military offensive to capture the flashpoint port city.
The Hudaydah airport lies just eight kilometers from the city’s port, through which three-quarters of Yemen’s imports pass, providing a lifeline for millions of people.
Since Saturday, the so-called coalition has announced a number of times that they had managed to fully capture the airport, but each time it was revealed that the airport was still in the hands of Houthi fighters and Yemeni troops, and that the compound was only within the reach of repeated air raids.
After nearly a month of sporadic clashes between Houthi forces and the coalition, coupled with Hadi’s militia, in the volatile province of Hudaydah, the latter two launched a major offensive on June 13 to take the Houthi-held Hudaydah, a densely-populated city and the war-torn country's most vital port, which is the entry point for 70 percent of the impoverished country's imports.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall the former Saudi-backed Hadi regime.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and an accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.
The Houthi movement, which is a significant aid to the Yemeni army in defending the country against the invading forces, has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration during the past three years.
The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
Since 2016, the impoverished nation has also been grappling with a deadly cholera outbreak, which has already killed thousands of people.
Yemen’s Houthi fighters are seen during a gathering to mobilize more fighters to the battlefront to fight pro-government forces, in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah on June 18, 2018.
Residents said coalition aircraft were bombing Houthi positions on roads leading to the airport as the group dug in against an onslaught by the Arab alliance to take the city, the Houthis’ main port and the lifeline for millions of Yemenis.
Brigadier Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, a Saudi-led coalition commander in Yemen's Red Sea coast, said in a video posted by the UAE’s official WAM news agency on Wednesday that the Hudaydah airport is "completely cleared” and "under control.”
However, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a top figure in the Houthi movement’s Supreme Political Council, had early on Wednesday rejected reports of the airport’s seizure by the Saudi-led aggressor.
Shehi’s remarks came one day after the Saudi-led troops announced that they had entered the main compound of the Hudaydah airport amid a military offensive to capture the flashpoint port city.
The Hudaydah airport lies just eight kilometers from the city’s port, through which three-quarters of Yemen’s imports pass, providing a lifeline for millions of people.
Since Saturday, the so-called coalition has announced a number of times that they had managed to fully capture the airport, but each time it was revealed that the airport was still in the hands of Houthi fighters and Yemeni troops, and that the compound was only within the reach of repeated air raids.
After nearly a month of sporadic clashes between Houthi forces and the coalition, coupled with Hadi’s militia, in the volatile province of Hudaydah, the latter two launched a major offensive on June 13 to take the Houthi-held Hudaydah, a densely-populated city and the war-torn country's most vital port, which is the entry point for 70 percent of the impoverished country's imports.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall the former Saudi-backed Hadi regime.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and an accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.
The Houthi movement, which is a significant aid to the Yemeni army in defending the country against the invading forces, has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration during the past three years.
The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
Since 2016, the impoverished nation has also been grappling with a deadly cholera outbreak, which has already killed thousands of people.
Yemen’s Houthi fighters are seen during a gathering to mobilize more fighters to the battlefront to fight pro-government forces, in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah on June 18, 2018.