Renewed Clashes Erupt in Yemen’s Hudaydah Despite Ceasefire
Fresh clashes have erupted between Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah fighters and militants loyal to the country’s Saudi-backed former regime in Hudaydah despite a UN-brokered truce in the vital Red Sea port city.
An AFP correspondent reported artillery and machine-gun exchanges in Hudaydah’s south early on Saturday, adding that they abated later in the day.
The renewed fighting came amid a Hudaydah ceasefire, which was reached between Yemen’s warring parties in Sweden in December.
They agreed to the withdrawal of their forces and deployment of UN monitors to the port, the entry point for most of Yemen’s vital aid and commercial goods.
On Friday, UN aid coordinator Lise Grande visited Hudaydah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, and held talks with local officials.
Grande is in Hudaydah to “see the humanitarian situation… and ensure the arrival of aid through the port,” said Jaber al-Razahi, the head of Yemen’s National Authority for the Administration and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Saudi Arabia and allies, which waged a war on Yemen in March 2015, regularly violate the Hudaydah truce and conduct deadly airstrikes on the port city and elsewhere in the war-torn country.
On Thursday, the Houthis launched a retaliatory drone attack on a military parade by Saudi-backed militants in the southern Lahij Province, killing several elements.
Separately on Friday, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, blamed the occupying Saudi mercenaries for a recent fire at an oil refinery in the southern port city of Aden.
In a post on his Twitter account, he accused the aggressors of targeting the people of Aden and the port’s refineries.
He further stressed that the Yemeni army and allied fighters from Popular Committees have been working to defeat the US-Saudi-backed forces and restore security and stability in the country.
“We do not list vital Yemeni institutions and infrastructure as targets for their attacks,” al-Houthi said. “This is what the army and Popular Committees are entrusted to do by the Yemeni People.”
An explosion sparked fire at an oil refinery in Aden’s Buraika neighborhood on Friday. There were no reports of casualties.
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