Saudi-led forces heading an assault on Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeida have seized control of its international airport, officials loyal to Yemen’s exiled government said.
Engineers worked from Saturday morning to clear mines from areas around Hodeida International Airport, just south of the city of some 600,000 people on the Red Sea, the military of Yemen’s exiled government said.
Yemen’s Shi’Ite rebels known as Houthis, who hold the country’s capital of Sanaa, did not immediately acknowledge losing the airport.
However, the Houthi-run Al Masirah satellite news channel aired footage it described as being from near Hodeida showing a burned-out truck, corpses of irregular fighters and a damaged Emirati armoured vehicle. The Iranian-aligned fighters rifled through a military ledger from the vehicle before chanting their slogan: “Death to America, death to Israel, damn the Jews, victory to Islam!”
The Saudi-led coalition began its assault on Hodeida on Wednesday, the main entry for food into a country already on the brink of famine. Emirati forces are leading ground forces mixed with their own troops, irregular militiamen and soldiers backing Yemen’s exiled government. Saudi Arabia has provided air support.
Read the full article at The Australian.