The Daily Star
Fighting for control of Yemen’s rebel-held city of Hodeida reached residential streets Sunday, as the Houthi insurgents mounted fierce resistance to government forces, military sources said.
Fears for civilian safety have been rising since Nov. 1, when the loyalist forces renewed an operation to take Hodeida. The Red Sea port city has been in the grip of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2014.
Mariam al-Dogani, Save the Children’s field coordinator in Yemen, said that the people in Hodeida are living in a “state of fear.”
“There is a lot of fear among residents, and some fear keeping their [loved ones] in hospitals as battles intensify,” she said by phone approximately a kilometer away from the port, as strikes were heard in the background.
Troops entered residential streets in eastern Hodeida Sunday with the aim of “purging them of insurgents,” according to a pro-government military official.
Rebels entrenched in the streets and positioned on rooftops battled to keep loyalist fighters out of a neighborhood located between two major landmarks in Hodeida, the city’s main hospital and vegetable market, both essential to the daily lives of civilians. Residents south of the site of Sunday’s clashes said they could hear gunfire and shelling throughout the night.
“We had three people from our neighborhood hospitalized over the weekend for shrapnel wounds,” Marwa, who asked that her name be changed, said. “We’re really tired. It’s not safe. We have no money. This time no one is leaving. We can’t afford it, and it’s too dangerous.”
Battles intensified in the southwestern part of the city as pro-government forces advanced along the coast toward the port, military officials said. Yemenis across the city have reported seeing snipers stationed on rooftops and rebels with tanks firing artillery in Hodeida.
Saudi Arabia and its allies first launched an offensive to take Hodeida in June, sparking an exodus from the densely populated city.
The operation was temporarily suspended amid U.N. efforts to hold peace talks, which failed to materialize. The United Nations is now pushing for talks by the end of the year.
Yemen’s foreign minister said that his government, which is recognized by the U.N., still backed the peace talks.
“The government is committed to supporting the U.N. special envoy’s efforts … to hold a round of talks by the end of this year,” Khalid al-Yamani was quoted as saying by the state-run Saba news agency.
The city’s docks, while under blockade, were not yet impacted by the fighting, according to Yahya Sharafeddine, deputy director of Hodeida port.
Hodeida is a vital lifeline for Yemenis across the country, as the majority of imports and humanitarian aid enters through its port.
The U.N. World Food Program said its silos remain intact “despite having been targeted by more than 50 shells in recent days.” “We have apparently not lost any of our stock of more than 50,000 tons of wheat enough to feed more than 3.5 million people,” WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said in a statement.
In the first defection from the capital Sanaa, where the rebels run a parallel government not recognized by the U.N., Houthi Minister Abdel-Salam Ali Jaber announced he had deserted the insurgency.
More than 400 combatants have been killed in 10 days of clashes in Hodeida. Medics said at least 61 fighters had been killed over the course of 24 hours, with dozens of wounded taken to hospitals outside the city.