Sources close to the former Yemeni president said the troops stormed the airport
on Tuesday following fierce battles with fighters of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah
movement, which has been both running state affairs and defending the country in
the face of the deadly Saudi-led military campaign.
The UAE state news agency WAM tweeted later in the day that militants, backed by
the Emirati military, have entered the airport.
"This is the first time we hear the clashes so clearly. We can hear the sound of
artillery and machinegun fire,” a resident, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said, adding that warplanes had pounded the airport on Tuesday morning.
Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a top figure in the Houthi movement’s Supreme Political
Council, however, said its fighters had repelled the Emirati-backed attempt to
seize the airport, and had inflicted heavy losses on the aggressors.
It said clashes are underway south of the airport with the UAE-led militants,
who are backed by the coalition’s military aircraft.
The Saudi-led coalition earlier claimed that its forces had taken control of the
airport. Ansarullah denied those allegations, saying the aggressors were on the
retreat on all fronts.
Saudi Arabia has been conducting airstrikes on the airport to support forces
attempting to seize it. Hudaydah serves as a lifeline to millions of Yemenis.
Ground troops including Emiratis, Sudanese and Yemenis have surrounded the main
airport compound.
Saudi Arabia’s Apache attack helicopters conducted aerial attacks on schools and
homes in the Manzar neighborhood abutting the airport compound in Hudaydah
Monday, according to residents.
The Saudi-led military push to seize Hudaydah, which began last week, has been
met with stiff resistance by the Houthi movement and its allied forces.
On Sunday night, Deputy Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces Lt. General Isa
Saif Bin Abalan al-Mazrouei was reportedly killed in clashes with Yemeni forces.
Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam news network quoted Deputy Governor-General of
Hudaydah Province Ali Qashar as saying early on Tuesday that al-Mazrouei as well
as 43 Saudi-backed mercenaries were killed in the western coast of Yemen.
The recent casualties bring the death toll among the Saudi-led coalition forces
to 253.
The assault against the densely-populated city and the war-torn country’s most
vital port was launched despite numerous warnings by the international community
and prominent aid groups.
A UN official warns that the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen's Hudaydah could
endanger the lives of millions of people.
More than 70 percent of Yemeni imports pass through Hudaydah’s docks and the
fighting has raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe in a country already
teetering on the brink of famine.
The UN has said the offensive could result in as many as 250,000 deaths.
Diplomatic efforts
As the assault by the Saudi-led coalition threatens to trigger a humanitarian
disaster in Hudaydah, the UN envoy for Yemen expressed hope for the re-launch of
peace talks next month to help end the Yemeni conflict, according to diplomats.
Speaking by video conference from the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, Martin Griffiths
briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on his framework for peace
talks.
Griffiths told the council that a first round of preliminary talks could take
place next month to restart negotiations on a political transition, two
diplomats in the chamber said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry
Polyansky said council members renewed their call for Hudaydah to remain open.
"We hope that nothing terrible happens in Hudaydah,” said Polyansky, whose
country holds the council presidency this month.
The World Food Program calls on all warring parties in Yemen's Hudaydah to
maintain a free food flow through the port city.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall
Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had resigned months earlier
and fled to Riyadh.
Yemeni Health Minister Taha al-Mutawakel said last week that the Saudi-led
military campaign has so far killed over 11,000 people and injured more than
24,000 more.
The war and an accompanying blockade have caused famine across Yemen. The United
Nations says a record 22.2 million people are in need of food aid, including 8.4
million threatened by severe hunger.
The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and
infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
Several Western countries, the US and the UK in particular, are accused of being
complicit in the aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced
weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence
assistance.
Source: Press TV