FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Saudi-Led Coalition Takes Hodeidah Airport, as City’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

June 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Multiple media sources confirm that forces of the Saudi-led coalition have seized control of the Hodeidah airport, while still attacking—and bombing—pockets of Houthi resistance in the surrounding area. Battles have reportedly spread to residential neighborhoods, Reuters reported.

Those civilians who can, are leaving the city for such Houthi-controlled areas as Sana’a, Raymah, and Wusab. But many lack the financial resources to leave. Saleem Al Shamiri, livelihood coordinator at the Norwegian Refugee Council, reports on the alarming water shortage in the city, which is heightening the danger of further cholera outbreaks.

“People are saying water has been disrupted in parts of Hodeidah already; some areas even prior to the war were not even connected to the main water supply,”

he said.

Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki insisted to Al-Arabiya TV that the port is operating normally, and that “we have humanitarian and development plans for when we liberate the city.” The UN World Food Program reported yesterday that it is hurrying to unload three ships at the port with enough food for 6 million people for one month. In a letter to the UN, the U.A.E. government said it has 50,000 metric tons of food aid in Yemen to deploy as needed in Hodeidah. This includes aid on 10 ships, 100 trucks, and a planned “air bridge” to drop in up to 14,000 tons of food, the Wall Street Journal reported.