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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Coalition gears up for battle in key Yemeni port city

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ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition geared up on Tuesday for an assault on Yemen’s main port, preparing to launch by far the biggest battle of a three-year-old war between an alliance of Arab states and the Ansar Allah movement that controls Yemen’s capital.


The United Arab Emirates, one of the main members of the Western-backed alliance, has set a Tuesday deadline for the Ansar Allah to withdraw from the port of Hodeidah under UN-led negotiations or face an assault.


It would be the first time since they joined the war on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government that the foreign armies have attempted to capture such a well-defended major city.


Hodeidah, Yemen’s biggest port and the only port controlled by the Ansar Allah, serves as the lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population, which lives in Ansar Allah-ruled territory.


The United Nations said it was engaged in “intense” shuttle diplomacy between the Ansar Allah and coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the UAE to avert the attack.


It estimates 600,000 people live in the area, and in a worst-case scenario a battle could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cutting off millions from aid and supplies.


Emirati-led troops have advanced along the southwestern coast to the outskirts of Hodeidah under a coalition strategy to box in the Ansar Allah fighters in the capital Sanaa and choke off their supply lines to force them to the negotiating table.


Local military sources said hundreds of Yemeni fighters as well as tanks and military supplies from the UAE arrived on Monday to reinforce troops, including Emiratis and Sudanese, in Al Durayhmi, a rural area 10 km south of Hodeidah.


The sources said Yemeni forces allied to the Saudi-led coalition — drawn from southern separatists, local units from the Red Sea coastal plain and a battalion led by a nephew of late former president Ali Abdullah Saleh — had advanced and were “at the doors” of Hodeidah airport.


The war pits the Ansar Allah against the Western-backed states, which intervened in 2015 to restore the exiled government.


The Ansar Allah fighters say they have led a popular revolution against corruption and are defending the country from invaders.


“I think the Emiratis have done a good job in presenting compelling arguments about why an operation (on Hodeidah) could in the end tip the balance and apply enough pressure to bring the Ansar Allah to the table,” a Western diplomat said on Monday.


“The Emiratis’ preparedness is crucial in this. This is possibly what we’re most concerned about.”


European donor governments warned aid groups in Yemen on Saturday that “a military assault now looks imminent,” according to a message seen by this agency. It said: “The Emiratis have informed us today that they will now give a 3-day grace period for the UN (and their partners) to leave the city.”


The UAE foreign ministry and government communication office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.


The United Nations relocated foreign staff members from Hodeidah on Monday. The International Committee of the Red Cross said last week it had pulled 71 foreign staff out of Yemen. — Reuters


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