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Ahram Online
“A recent Houthi rebel advance near Yemen’s lifeline port of Hodeida has displaced more than 6,000 people”, the United Nations said on Sunday.
The rebels seized large area, South of Hodeida, after loyalist forces withdrew without notifying the internationally recognised government of the move. The loyalist forces cited ‘compliance with the 2018 ceasefire agreement signed in Stockholm, Sweden’.
“Some 700 families (approximately 4,900 people) were displaced to Khokha, over 100 kilometres (60 miles) South of Hodeida, while 184 other families (about 1,300 people) were displaced further South to the Red Sea coastal town of Mokha”, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement, citing Yemeni government sources.
“No displacement has been reported within the areas which came under control of the de facto authorities”, the statement added, referring to the Houthis.
Based on local aid partners information, the UN says “a 300-tent site for displaced people had been set up in the Khokha district, while the authorities were reportedly looking for another site to cope with the influx”.
“The Houthi advance could result in improved movement for civilians between the provinces of Hodeida and Sanaa, and along roads connecting Hodeida city with other districts”, the UN said.
The Hodeida ceasefire was agreed at Yemen’s last peace talks in Sweden in 2018, however, clashes have since broken out between the rebels and pro-government troops around the city.
“Clashes also erupted, Saturday, when the rebels tried to push farther South into government-controlled territory, but loyalist forces repelled the advance”, two unnamed military officials confirmed.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been engaging in a sustained attempt to capture oil-rich region of Marib, the government’s last stronghold in the North.
Last week, the UN called on “all parties in the conflict to ensure the safety and security of civilians in and around those areas where shifts in frontlines have taken place”.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen was claimed to shore up the government in 2015, a year after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced, in what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.
