Arab forces poised to take airport of Yemen’s port city

ADEN: Forces from an alliance of Arab states fought their way to the outskirts of the airport in Yemen’s main port city on Friday, as the Eid holiday saw a battle the United Nations fears could trigger a famine imperilling millions of lives.

Residents in the city of Hodeidah, controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, said clashes were taking place in the Manzar neighbourhood, which abuts the wall surrounding the airport. Many Manzar residents fled to the city centre.

“There have been terrifying bombing runs since the morning, when they struck Houthi positions near the airport,” said Ammar Ahmed, a fish vendor. “We live days of terror that we have never known before.”

Apache attack helicopters hovered over Manzar, firing at Houthi snipers and fighters in schools and other buildings, said another Hodeidah 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 centre on motorcycles, the resident said.

Streets elsewhere in the city were empty despite the Eid holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fast. Residents instead hunkered down at home as battles raged on the edge of the city and coalition warplanes pounded coastal areas to the southeast.

The coalition of Arab states has battled with little success for three years to defeat the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa, the main port at Hodeidah and most of Yemen’s populated areas. The assault on Hodeidah is the alliance’s first attempt to capture such a well-defended major city.

“We are at the edges of the airport and are working to secure it now,” the Arab coalition said in a statement to Reuters. “We will soon enter the next phase of operations to press the Houthis on multiple fronts, including at coastal points, at other edges of the city and, with the local resistance, from within the city itself.

“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,” it said.

The assault is a dramatic gamble by the Arab states, who insist that they can swiftly capture the port without a major disruption to aid supplies to a country already experiencing the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations, which struggled but failed to find a diplomatic path to head off the assault, fears it will cut off the only lifeline for most Yemenis. Some 22 million depend on aid and 8.4 million are at immediate risk of starvation.

Western countries have long given the Arab states tacit diplomatic backing and sell them billions of dollars a year in arms. But that support could falter if the assault provokes the feared humanitarian catastrophe.