Clashes near Yemen’s Hodeidah as UN seeks truce

ADEN: Clashes between troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis intensified near Yemen´s Hodeidah over the weekend as the United Nations tries to negotiate a ceasefire to avert a possible assault on the main port city, military sources said.

A military attack or siege on the Houthi-held western city, long a target in the war, could cost up to 250,000 lives, a senior UN humanitarian official has warned.The Red Sea port is a lifeline for eight million Yemenis, handling most of the country´s commercial imports and aid supplies. Heavy fighting erupted on Friday and Saturday in al-Durayhmi, a rural area where Emirati-led troops are now 10 km (6 miles) south of Hodeidah, and in Bayt al-Faqih, 35 km from the city, local military sources said. Coalition warplanes and warships launched strikes targeting the Houthis, they added. A spokesman for the Western-backed alliance of mostly Gulf states did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UN Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths has been holding talks with the Houthis to hand over control of the port to the United Nations, Yemeni political sources have said. A broader UN peace plan calls on the Houthis to give up their missiles in return for an end to a coalition bombing campaign and a transitional governance deal, according to a draft document and sources. Previous UN efforts have failed to end the more than three-year-old conflict which pits the Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.