Arab Coalition, Yemen Forces Capture Entrance of Hodeidah Airport

[The SC]

Friday, 15 June, 2018 - 18:30

Legitimate Yemeni forces, supported by the Saudi-backed Arab coalition, advanced on Yemen’s Hodeidah airport on Friday, capturing the entrance of the facility after fierce clashes with the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

The Yemeni army launched on Wednesday operation Golden Victory to recapture Hodeidah province and its strategic port from Houthi clutches.

“We are at the edges of the airport and are working to secure it now,” the Arab coalition said in a statement to Reuters. “Operational priority is to avoid civilian casualties, maintain the flow of humanitarian aid, and allow for the UN to press the Houthis to evacuate the city.”

Yemeni forces tweeted that they had also seized the airport’s southern entrance and were advancing down a main road toward the Hodeidah seaport.

At least 70 Houthis were killed on Friday in the ongoing fighting, reported Sky News.

Apache attack helicopters hovered over the Manzar neighborhood, firing at Houthi snipers and fighters in schools and other buildings, said another resident, who asked not to be identified.

Houthi forces had entered homes overlooking the main road to go onto the roofs. Dozens of Manzar residents fled to the city center on motorcycles, the resident said.

Streets elsewhere in the city were empty despite the Eid holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fast.

The airport has been defunct since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.


https://aawsat.com/english/home/art...emen-forces-capture-entrance-hodeidah-airport

 

[Malik Alashter]

If Iranians backed are bad then the saudi backed are bad as well

get out and let them solve their problems themselves

 

[The SC]

If Iranians backed are bad then the saudi backed are bad as well

get out and let them solve their problems themselves

There is a difference.. that you have missed.. KSA is supporting a legitimate government, while Iran is supporting an illegal militia _according the the UN resolution.._

 

[Malik Alashter]

There is a difference.. that you have missed.. KSA is supporting a legitimate government, while Iran is supporting an illegal militia _according the the UN resolution.._

Hadi is traitor hence the Yemenis should trial him for treason

He has been kicked out his position by Yemeni counsel so the saudis are not intervening legitimately.

 

[Ceylal]

Hodeida will stay Houthi...The Houthis have moved and tranches in more than 30,000 fighters ...with tanks and artillery...and each of those Houthis are worth of Saudi Battelion...

 

[The SC]

Hadi is traitor hence the Yemenis should trial him for treason

He has been kicked out his position by Yemeni counsel so the saudis are not intervening legitimately.

You can send a complain to the UN.. but I am sure they know better..

 

[yavar]

Al-Jazeera arabic report and aired images of Yemen resistance force Ansarullah still in control of al-Hadida airport and city

 

[Ceylal]

They have capture El Hodeidah, like they are shooting down the Houthi missiles over the kingdom of doom.

 

[The SC]

Legitimate forces inside Hodeidah airport yesterday (AP)

 

[$@rJen]

Battle for Hodeidah: Hundreds dead as Arab coalition takes international airport from Houthi rebels

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Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen have seized the international airport at the key city of Hodeidah from Houthi rebels, according to military officials.

The battle for control of the main gateway for food shipments has already claimed at least 280 lives and it is feared protracted fighting will leave millions at risk of starvation.


International aid groups and the United Nations had cautioned the Arab coalition before it launched the assault on the Red Sea port on Wednesday because of its importance to the humanitarian aid effort.

The coalition, which includes United Arab Emirates forces, Sudanese and Yemenis, with air support from Saudi Arabia, say they have “exhausted all other options to protect Yemeni civilians and to ensure the safe passage of aid shipments”.


They claim the port has been used to smuggle weapons from Iran and provides millions of dollars for the Houthi rebels through customs control.

Aid agencies and the UN evacuated international staff from the city but thousands remain besieged in the city and around the airport due to the fighting.

An injured girl being treated in a Unicef-backed hospital in Hodeidah (Unicef Nederland)
Victory for the Arab alliance could put the Iranian-backed Houthis in their weakest position since the conflict erupted three years ago and cut off supply lines to the rebel-controlled capital, Sana’a.

On Saturday the media office of the Yemeni military announced on Twitter: “Army forces backed by the resistance and the Arab alliance freed Hodeidah international airport from the grip of the Houthi militia.”


Engineers are working to clear mines from areas around their airport, just south of the city.

Aly Omar told Reuters news agency that he and his family spent three days trapped in the Manzar neighbourhood near the airport as fighting raged all around them.

“We didn’t have any food, or drink or anything, not even water,” Omar said, standing in a hospital on Friday night beside his son, who was wounded by an air strike.

World news in pictures

“I treated him on a bus after he was injured in an air strike, which is unacceptable. I call on the United Nations and the Red Cross to open a way for us to get out of the situation we’re in. Our kids, women and elderly are stuck.”


Samy Mansour, head of the emergency room at Al-Thawra hospital, said he had received two dead and 12 wounded: ”We’re still treating people on the scene and transporting them to the hospital.”

Read more

• Biggest assault of Yemen’s three-year-war begins
• How the destruction of a port in Yemen could send millions into famine
• Parents forced to watch their children starve to death in Yemen

Relief worker Saber Wasel said: “Families are trapped inside and there is difficulty leaving as they are coming under airstrikes and bombardment by both parties of the war.”

Airstrikes, blockades and fighting have killed more than 10,000 people since the war began in 2015 and the conflict has become part of the proxy war between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran across the Middle East.


Around two-thirds of the country’s population of 27 million rely on aid, and 8.4 million are already at risk of starving.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is due to arrive in Sana’a on Saturday.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report