Latest fighting potentially complicates a Houthi troop withdrawal intended to pave the way for wider peace talks.
Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed pro-government forces battled in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Wednesday, breaching a ceasefire as the UN Security Council held a meeting to discuss the devastating war.
The latest clashes potentially complicate a troop withdrawal agreement intended to pave the way for wider peace talks, in which ports were handed over to Yemeni coastguard forces.
Hodeidah port, which has been under Houthi control, is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis threatened by starvation because of the war as it is the main entry point for food imports and aid.
The Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah and two other Red Sea ports began on Saturday and was the most significant advance yet in efforts to end the four-year war.
However, both sides reported renewed clashes on Wednesday, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement claimed a drone attack that Saudi Arabia said had hit two of its oil pumping stations.
Houthi-run media said pro-government forces had hit various parts of Hodeidah city, including the airport, with heavy and medium weapons.
It did not say if they were Yemeni troops or members of an international military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that backs President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s Aden-based government.
The coalition-backed forces said in a report that Houthi fighters tried to infiltrate Hodeidah and the al-Duraihmi area to its south but pro-government troops foiled them.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), leading members of the coalition, have yet to comment on the Houthi withdrawal.
The coalition has forces massed on Hodeidah’s outskirts and under the withdrawal plan’s first phase, they are supposed to eventually also draw back.
