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YEMEN-CONFLICT-HODEIDA WRAP
Assault on Yemen’s Hodeida halted as UN pursues talks
ABU DHABI, July 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United Arab Emirates on Sunday
announced it had halted the offensive it is backing against Huthi rebels in
Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, to give a chance to UN diplomatic efforts.
In a series of tweets, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar
Gargash said the pause was aimed at pursuing negotiations for an
unconditional rebel withdrawal from the port but warned that full military
action could resume.
The weeks-long offensive on Hodeida — Yemen’s main port — has raised
fears of further suffering and deprivation in a country already deeply shaken
by years of war between the Iran-backed Huthis and President Abedrabbo
Mansour Hadi’s Gulf-backed government.
Pointing to a renewed push for a negotiated settlement by UN envoy Martin
Griffiths, Gargash said: “We have paused our campaign to allow enough time
for this option to be fully explored. We hope he will succeed.”
He said the pause had been in effect since June 23 and while there was
continued “pressure on the parameter”, pro-government forces were awaiting
the results of an upcoming visit by Griffiths to the rebel-held capital
Sanaa.
Griffiths met with Hadi in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday and is
reported to be pushing for the Huthis to cede control of Hodeida to the
United Nations.
Hadi demanded a full rebel withdrawal from the city, which has been the
target of a weeks-long military offensive by the Yemeni government and its
regional allies, led by the UAE on the ground.
The rebels have said they may be willing to share control of Hodeida’s
port with the United Nations but say their forces must remain in the docks
and the rest of the Red Sea city.
– ‘Forcing concessions’ –
The Huthis have controlled Hodeida and its port since 2014, when they
drove the Hadi government out of the capital and seized large swathes of
northern Yemen.
On June 13, the UAE and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, launched a
massive military operation — dubbed “Golden Victory” — to drive the rebels
out of the port.
Pro-government forces managed to seize control of Hodeida’s airport in mid-
June after days of heavy fighting but did not immediately push forward into
the city, home to some 600,000 people and about 150 kilometres (90 miles)
west of Sanaa.
Gargash said the operation has succeeded in “forcing the Huthis to make
concessions” but said it remained to be seen “whether the Huthis are engaging
seriously with this process or using it as a tactic to buy time”.
“Failing these patient efforts we believe that continued military pressure
will ultimately bring the liberation of Hodeida and force the Huthis to
engage seriously in negotiations.”
Some 70 percent of imports to Yemen, where eight million people face
imminent famine, flow through the port of Hodeida.
Nearly 10,000 people have died in the Yemen war since 2015, when Saudi
Arabia and its allies joined the government’s fight against the Huthis.
The United Nations has called Yemen the world’s largest humanitarian
crisis.
More than 30,000 residents of Hodeida and the province of the same name
had fled their homes since the start of the offensive.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1500 hrs