This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has launched an all-out assault on the rebel-held port of Hodeidah in a move that coalition leaders have claimed could be completed within a week.

Sulaiman Almazroui, the United Arab Emirates’ UK ambassador, said the Red Sea port could be captured without disrupting vital humanitarian supply lines or directly endangering the lives of more than 600,000 people living in the city and surrounding areas.

Coalition warplanes and warships on Wednesday pounded fortifications in the Houthi-controlled city to support ground operations by Yemeni, UAE and Sudanese troops massed on its southern approaches.

The information minister of the exiled Yemeni government, Muammar al-Iryan, warned Hodeidah residents not to “allow any sniper or gunmen from Houthi [rebel] militia on the roofs of your houses. Stay away from military camps ... Do not store petrol products.”

Almazroui told reporters the coalition had contingency plans to replace any loss of aid caused by coalition airstrikes.

Saying the operation, known as “Golden Victory”, was still in a preliminary phase, he explained “the way we see it going we don’t think it is going to take that long”, adding: “We are hoping it will take days not months. If things go as planned, there will be no shortage of food.”

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His assessment has been challenged by the UN and aid agencies operating on the ground, who warn the attack will paralyse the fragile distribution of food through the region, which has already been affected by famine.

Aid agencies warn it will cut off humanitarian supply lines to millions and directly endanger the lives of up to 200,000 people living in the city.



As much as 80% of the aid that reaches the country, including medicines, fuel and food, goes through the port, but the Saudi-led coalition claims the Iranian-backed Houthis use it to smuggle arms and raise taxes.



An estimated 8.4 million people in Yemen face pre-famine conditions, according to the World Health Organization.

United Nations diplomats, backed by Britain and the US, spent days pressing the UAE and Saudi Arabia to delay the attack, but were rebuffed by Gulf states who were convinced the assault would not be as bloody as aid agencies predicted. Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, had warned an attack would set his peace plan back.

A letter published on Wednesday from 40 British MPs, including the chairs of foreign, international development and human rights select committees, has called on Theresa May to condemn the attack on Hodeidah and use all available means to end the assault including “withdrawal of material support for combatants”.

The attack marks the first time the Saudi-led coalition has tried to capture such a heavily defended major city since it entered the war three years ago against the Houthis, who control the capital Sana’a and most of the populated areas.

Care International, one of the few aid agencies still operating in Hodeidah, said 30 airstrikes hit the city within half an hour on Wednesday.

“Some civilians are entrapped, others forced from their homes. We thought it could not get any worse, but unfortunately we were wrong,” said Care’s acting country director, Jolien Veldwijk.

Almazroui said the attack would force the Houthis to the negotiating table. He added that Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had consulted the US and France, adding that “they are both supportive of the UAE help to the Yemeni forces”.

The claim of French support for the attack on Hodeidah has been denied by the French government. Almazroui said the UK had urged the UAE to give Griffiths, the UN special envoy, more time to negotiate the Houthi retreat from the port.

The coalition claims its rapid advance up the coast south of Hodeidah proves the Houthi forces are not as entrenched as some have suggested. It argues the capture of the port will shorten the three-year civil war by tipping the military balance towards the coalition, forcing the Houthis to negotiate.

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday said the assault was “likely to exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen”.

Yemen’s exiled government, which is still recognised by the UN, said: “The liberation of Hodeidah port is a turning point in our struggle to recapture Yemen.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition gather near the outskirts of Hodeidah. Photograph: Najeeb Almahboobi/EPA

The attack is being led on the ground by forces loyal to Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was assassinated by his former Houthi allies in December. It is commanded by Tarek Saleh, his nephew.

The UAE foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, said the coalition had given the Houthi forces nearly three days to leave the port before the attack started.

“The Houthis cannot hold Hodeidah hostage to finance their war and divert the flow of humanitarian aid,” he said. “Their assault on the Yemeni people has continued for too long.”

The assault led to a barrage of warnings and criticism, including claims that the UK and US, both closely tied to the Saudis, had effectively given the assault a green light by not intervening more decisively to deter it.

Sweden is expected to demand an open meeting of the UN security council on Wednesday. Efforts by some security council members at a closed session on Tuesday to agree a statement explicitly condemning the attack in principle failed, partly owing to opposition from the US and UK.

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In a statement, the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, made no call for the UAE to end the attack, instead urging the coalition-backed forces to do all they could to protect civilians, as well as the commercial and humanitarian flows through the port. He said it was imperative to resume work towards a comprehensive political settlement.

The former UK international development secretary Andrew Mitchell has accused the British government of being “complicit” in the attack, and said the UK was using its position on the security council to protect its ally Saudi Arabia.

In the US, a cross-party group of senators including Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the foreign relations committee, wrote to the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, expressing “grave alarm at the attack”.