2 Houthi leaders killed in fighting in Yemen’s Hudaydah

By Murad Arifi

MAARIB, Yemen (AA) - Yemen’s Houthi rebel group on Monday said two of its commanders had been killed in fighting with Yemeni government forces in the port city of Al-Hudaydah.

According to a statement released by Houthi officials and carried by Yemen’s SABA news agency, the two commanders -- Yahya Ali Hadir and Waida Ali al-Awiri -- were killed while “carrying out their duties on the western coast front."

The battle for Yemen’s western Al-Hudaydah province entered its sixth day on Monday, with fierce battles being reported between Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.

According to sources close to the fighting, the Houthis have dug a network of trenches around the city of Al-Hudaydah in advance of an anticipated offensive by the Yemeni army.

Last Wednesday, Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, launched a major operation to retake Al-Hudaydah -- along with its strategic seaport -- from the Houthis, who captured it in 2014.

Yemen’s internationally-recognized government (currently based in the port city of Aden) and its Saudi-led allies accuse the Houthis of using the seaport to smuggle weapons into the country from Iran.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies -- who accuse the Houthis of serving as proxies for Shia Iran -- launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The following year, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait failed to end the destructive conflict.

The ongoing violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.