Coalition Hits Yemen Rebels Outside Hodeida As Push For City Paused
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published July 03, 2018 | 05:16 PM
Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bombarded rebel positions outside Hodeida after pausing their push into the strategic Red Sea port city, government sources said on Tuesday.
Khokha, Yemen, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Jul, 2018 ) :Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bombarded rebel positions outside Hodeida after pausing their push into the strategic Red Sea port city, government sources said on Tuesday.
Hospital sources said 11 civilians and 43 rebel fighters had been killed on Sunday and Monday as the rebels came under fire south of Hodeida and in some cases retaliated.
The rebels have held Hodeida since 2014 but in a major offensive last month government forces backed by the United Arab Emirates and other coalition troops captured the disused airport on its southern outskirts -- a major stepping stone for any drive into the city.
On Saturday, the government and the UAE announced a pause in their advance.
This week's deadly bombardment targeted rebel positions in Tohayta, Beit al-Faqiya and Zabid, to the south of Hodeida, the government military sources said.
Three civilians were killed in their car in a coalition air strike against rebel military vehicles on a road near Zabid, residents said.
Eight civilians, including four children, were killed by rocket fire in Tohayta, witnesses said.
Residents blamed the rebels.
In both incidents, hospital sources confirmed receiving the bodies.
Hodeida is the latest battlefront in a war that has killed nearly 10,000 people since 2015, most of them civilians, and pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine.
Desperately needed relief supplies and three-quarters of Yemen's commercial imports pass through the city's port.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Sunday in a new bid to reach a deal to avert an all-out battle fo Hodeida that could cause major casualties in the city's streets and damage to its docks.
Griffiths has said a proposal to grant the UN a major role in managing the port is under study.
The government and the UAE have demanded the rebels withdraw unconditionally from the whole city, not just the port, something the rebels have rejected.
The UAE says the rebels' departure from Hodeida, whether voluntary or by force, is necessary to stop them smuggling in weapons.
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