Dubai: Saudi-led Arab coalition aircraft bombarded Al Houthi militants holed up at the airport of Yemen’s main port Hodeida yesterday as a senior alliance official said he hoped UN diplomacy could coax the Iran-aligned movement to cede the city to “save the population”.
The Western-backed Arab alliance launched an onslaught on Hodeida six days ago in order to turn the tables in a long-stalemated proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has compounded instability across the Middle East.
The coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 after Al Houthi militants drove the internationally recognised government into exile. UAE forces are spearheading the Hodeida offensive, now focused on the airport of the Red Sea city.
Yesterday, coalition Apache helicopter gunships fired at Al Houthi snipers and other militants positioned on the rooftops of schools and homes in the Manzar neighbourhood abutting the airport compound, according to local residents.
Al Houthi forces had blocked roads to the airport, they said.
The Al Houthis’ Al Masira television reported six coalition air strikes on the Duraihmi district in the vicinity of the port.
The Arab alliance has asserted that it can take Hodeida quickly enough to avoid interrupting aid and that it would focus on capturing the airport and port and avoid street fighting.
But the coalition has not tried to capture such a heavily defended major city since entering the war, and humanitarian groups fear the battle for Hodeida could drag out.
The coalition intervened in Yemen to restore its internationally recognised government and thwart what Riyadh and Abu Dhabi see as efforts by Iran to dominate the region.
The liberation of Hodeida will deprive Iran-backed Al Houthis from the only port that is still under their control and cut off their supply route from Sana’a and the southwestern city of Taiz.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition has accused Iran of using the port to smuggle weapons to Al Houthis.
Thousands of ballistic missiles made in Iran have been fired into Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh has dubbed ‘an act of war’.
Observers believe the liberation of the port city will be a tipping point in the war.
Losing access to their main source of weapons, Al Houthis could be more open to a political settlement.
Past attempts at political talks have largely failed due to the militants’ refusal to compromise.
— With inputs from Reuters
