The War for Yemen’s Hodeidah: Report

YemenExtra

M.A.

The three ports of the province of Hodeidah (Al Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Issa) are now free from any military presence of the Yemeni army forces and popular committees, according to the head of the Coordination Committee for Redeployment, Michael Lawlessgard, last week.

On the other hand, the government-affiliated with the outgoing president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi keeps questioning the integrity of that withdrawal, the «coalition» and forces loyal to him launched a new escalation against the province, represented by land movements in the vicinity of the city of Hodeidah, and a series of air raids targeting the south.

A further escalation coincided with the return of the United Nations inspection team from Djibouti to the port of Hodeidah to facilitate the unhindered flow of commercial and relief cargo after the initial redeployment turned the three ports of the province into a “civilian space” under the control of the International Organizations.

However, the government of Hadi, who has already refused to transfer the UN team to the port of Medina, began a campaign of incitement against the action over the past two days, claiming that the port was a “base for the launch of a winged cruise missile on Saudi Arabia,” while the Coalition claimed to destroy explosive warships set off from the port itself.

A spokesman for Ansarullah, the head of its negotiating delegation, Mohamed Abdel Salam, also said that “the aggression is deliberately delaying the implementation of the next step of the Swedish agreement.”

“The unilateral redeployment has put the enemy in front of a real test, but he has once again hindered the process of carrying out the next step,” Abdulsalam said in a press statement. “The coalition escalated its attacks and violations on the province of Hodeidah, including air raids, reconnaissance and shelling of the ground on a continuous basis », holding the Saudi-led coalition « full responsibility and the consequences if it continues this wrong and dangerous behavior ».

He reiterated the commitment of Sanaa to the agreement of Sweden and its practical paths, while retaining the right to respond, “and called on the United Nations to« play its role, and continue its required activity seriously ».

On the ground, pro-UAE militias have stepped up operations targeting areas around Hodeidah in recent days, at a much faster pace than in previous months. They attacked homes in the town of Duraihmi, which has been besieged for nine months with artillery that led to severely damaged civilian property.

They also targeted houses and properties in the villages of Al-Shajan, Al-Koe’i and Al-Khubatiya, located on the outskirts of Al-Drehemi city, south of Hodeidah. This coincided with the arrival of large military reinforcements to the forces of «alliance» to the vicinity of the city.

According to the news, the UAE supported its militia in the West Coast with more than 200 military vehicles last week, while 1,000 new Sudanese troops arrived on the west coast. The escalation of these reinforcements was accompanied by the intensification of Yemen’s espionage flight over Hodeidah during the past week to reveal the continued role of the US in the battle and enabling air defenses to drop a US drone MQ9 “in the skies of Hodeidah province, as recognized by Washington, which considered it «evolution» in the capabilities of the army and committees.

Militias loyal to the United Arab Emirates have also carried out military operations in a number of areas of the West Coast, such as the Hotyta, al-Jabalia and al-Matina, attempting to provoke the army and the committees.

In the past 48 hours, new forces were pushed into the vicinity of the city of Hodeidah to launch violent artillery attacks on the neighborhoods of the city, after they had targeted a number of them such as “Jawla Mobile” with RPG missiles » and launched an attack with automatic weapons on the village of Zaafran in Kilo 16. On Thursday evening, the coalition launched intensive raids on Al-Duha area in the city of Al-Hudaydah. Other raids also targeted areas on khothoth eltimass without causing casualties. These areas have been empty for nearly a year.