Hodeidah Operation Reveals Names of Foreign Houthi Trainers

Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
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Hodeidah Operation Reveals Names of Foreign Houthi Trainers

Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)
Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port city of Hodeidah. (AFP)

The Yemeni national army captured on Monday a naval base that the Iranian-backed Houthis were using as a headquarters in the port city of Hodeidah.

The forces also seized plans, documents, Iranian-made equipment and the names of foreign Houthi trainers during the operation.

Lebanese and Iranian names were included in the list.

The operation came at a time when the militias were continuing their violation of the humanitarian truce that was announced in mid-November by the joint forces and Arab coalition.

Spokesman for the Amaleeqa Brigades Waddah al-Dbeish said that the operation was in retaliation to the militias’ violation of the ceasefire and their shelling of liberated residential neighborhoods.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the operation secured a number of buildings and villas in the Khamseen road.

The army also discovered maps of naval mines that the Houthis had planted at sea.

Moreover, they found modern Iranian equipment that are used for naval purposes.

Dbeish vowed that the joint forces will not suffice with simple self-defense, but they will retaliate to any Houthi attack with an operation that will lead to the liberation of positions in Hodeidah.

One such operation, he said, led to the recapture of vast areas of an air base in Hodeidah.

The forces seized planes and equipment and dismantled mines that were planted by the Houthis, including explosives that were placed inside three MiG planes.



UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP
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UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP

The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa's airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.

Israel said that it was targeting "military infrastructure" in Thursday's raids and that targets around the country were used by Houthis to "smuggle Iranian weapons" and bring in senior Iranian officials.

UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport "is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations."

"It's used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights -- that is its purpose," he told reporters by video link from Yemen, AFP reported.

"Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets," he added. "The obligation is on them, not on us. We don't need to prove we're civilians."

Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.

One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.

"There was one airstrike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another airstrike approximately 300 meters to the north of us," he said.

"What was most frightening about that airstrike wasn't the effect on us -- it's that the airstrikes took place... as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land," he said.

"In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed."

Although the plane "was able to land safely... it could have been far, far worse."

The Israeli attack, he said came with "zero indication of any potential airstrikes."

Harneis said the airport is "absolutely vital" to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. "If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations."

The United Nations has labeled Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world," with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.