Yemen army with coalition forces converges on port city of Hodeida, seeks to liberate it from Houthi rebels

Riyadh: Yemeni government forces are around nine kilometres from Hodeida, the Saudi-led military coalition said on Tuesday, announcing fresh gains in their advance on the strategic rebel-held port city. The coalition-backed forces are closing in on the Red Sea port, the main conduit for humanitarian supplies into a country where millions of people are in dire need of food aid. “The Yemeni army backed by coalition forces are nine kilometres from Hodeida,” Turki al-Maliki, a coalition spokesman told reporters in Riyadh. Last Monday, Maliki said the forces were around 20 kilometres from Hodeida. The battle for the port, controlled by Iran-allied Houthi rebels, has left more than 100 soldiers and insurgents dead in less than a week, medics and military sources said at the weekend. “We are getting reinforcements, removing mines in preparation for subsequent operations,” he said, adding that the coalition was focused on protecting civilian lives. “Once the measures are in place, the forces will advance to liberate Hodeida.” [caption id=“attachment_2169737” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] UN envoy Martin Griffiths was in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Monday for talks with Houthi rebels about de-escalating the fighting around Hodeida. The United Nations has warned that any operation aimed at seizing Hodeida itself would disrupt the entry of aid shipments to Yemen, 70 percent of which flow through the rebel-held port. The port has been a point of contention in Yemen’s war since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened on behalf of the government in 2015 against the rebels. Hodeida is crucial for aid deliveries as Yemen teeters on the brink of famine, but for Saudi Arabia it is an entry point for rebel weaponry, which it accuses regional rival Tehran of supplying. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) - a key member of the Saudi-led alliance - has taken the initiative to ramp up the coastal offensive, with the stated goal of taking Hodeida. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the alliance launched its intervention in Yemen in March 2015, contributing to what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.