Al Houthi breaches fray Hodeida truce deal
Iran-allied militia mounts attacks in several parts of port city
Cairo: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Al Houthi militia has mounted a series of attacks on military and residential sites in the port city of Hodeida, further violating a UN-brokered ceasefire deal there, military sources said Sunday.
Yemeni government forces on Saturday foiled a militia attack in which heavy and medium weapons were used on the district of Tahita in the southern section of Hodeida, a field military source said.
“The joint forces managed to repulse the attack and inflicted on them heavy casualties and losses in hardware,” the source added.
Al Houthi militiamen, meanwhile, shelled residential and farm areas in the district of Hees also in southern Hodeida, Yemeni news portal Adan Al Ghad reported without giving specific casualty figures.
Last December, the Yemeni government and Al Houthis reached a UN-brokered deal on a ceasefire in Hodeida. The pact, signed in Sweden, has since faltered over Al Houthi intransigence and breaches.
Al Houthis seized Hodeida in late 2014 when they overran parts of Yemen, plunging the impoverished country in a ruinous war.
Hodeida in western Yemen is strategically important because of its key port through which most Yemen’s imports and aid enter.