Capture of Hodeidah would be Saudi-led coalition’s biggest victory so far

Thousands of civilians have been evacuating districts surrounding Hodeidah’s airport yesterday as a Saudi-led coalition closes in on the Houthi-held city in Yemen, according to two sources. The densely populated Red Sea port in western Yemen is facing an all-out battle as the Saudi-led coalition works to retake the city from the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen’s bloody civil war. Control of Hodeidah’s airport is the latest chapter in the bloody conflict. Clashes have been happening at the airport’s gates as hundreds of coalition forces surrounded the area. The Saudi Centre of International Communication posted on its official Twitter account that the “Saudi-led coalition enters Hodeidah airport”. More than 70 per cent of Yemeni imports pass through Hodeidah’s docks and the fighting has raised UN fears of humanitarian catastrophe in a country already teetering on the brink of famine.

Ground troops including Emiratis, Sudanese and Yemenis from various factions have surrounded the main airport compound but have not seized it, a source in the coalition-allied Yemeni military and residents said. Meanwhile, the UN envoy for Yemen carried a plan to halt fighting as he arrived yesterday in the rebel-held capital Sanaa for emergency talks.