ADEN/GENEVA: Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition launched on Friday a “vast offensive” to take full control of the port city of Hodeidah, the internationally recognised government based in the southern city of Aden said.
The announcement came as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that many people remained trapped in the city by the fighting. It also said nearly half a million people have fled the area since June.
“A military operation has begun and the national army forces have advanced towards the north and the western sides of the city of Hodeidah, progressing on all fronts with the support of the Arab coalition,” the government said in a statement.
“Fierce battles are taking place at these moments.”
The Red Sea port of Hodeidah has become a key battleground in Yemen’s nearly four-year-long war, which pits the coalition against Ansar Allah fighters, who control the capital Sanaa. Ansar Allah has held Hodeidah since 2014.
Hours after Friday’s announcement of a new offensive, residents said the progress of coalition forces appeared limited. They said Ansar Allah had withdrawn from a hospital in the eastern suburbs of Hodeidah where fighting has been concentrated in recent days but they remained in the area.
Ansar Allah raided the May 22 hospital earlier this week, posting gunmen on its rooftop, according to rights groups who voiced alarm for the fate of the medical staff and patients.
UN bodies have warned that an all-out attack on Hodeidah, an entry point for 80 per cent of Yemen’s food imports and aid relief, could trigger famine in the impoverished state.
The United States and Britain, which provide arms and intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition, have stepped up calls for a ceasefire in Yemen, raising pressure on Riyadh. The UNHCR expressed alarm over
the fate of unknown numbers of people trapped in Hodeidah by the latest fighting.
“As testament to how dire the situation is, some 445,000 people from Al Hodeidah Governorate have been forced to flee since June, according to UN data,” spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday. Some of them have fled to other parts of Hodeidah province and some to other areas of Yemen, she said.
The province of Hodeidah, including the port city, had a population of 2.6 million in 2011, four years before the civil war erupted, according to Yemeni statistics.
“While the number of those remaining in Hodeidah city is difficult to gauge, UNHCR is worried that people needing to flee for safety aren’t able to do so. They are trapped by military operations, which are increasingly confining populations and cutting off exit routes,” Mantoo said.
The UNHCR appealed to all sides to allow access to its warehouse stocked with emergency shelter and essential aid items that it said had been cut off by an active front line.
— Reuters
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