At first glance, it may seem like a positive move. The Trump administration and London are both putting pressure on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to implement a ceasefire in Yemen’s atrocious war. Washington and London are also calling for warring sides to enter into peace negotiations within a month.
HODEIDA, YEMEN — Following twelve days of clashes in Yemen’s strategic port city of Hodeida, the Yemeni Army, supported by local volunteer fighters as well as Ansar Allah (Houthi), has pushed back a large-scale offensive by Saudi Arabia, its coalition allies and the mercenary fighters it employs. The attack is the latest of multiple failed attempts by the coalition to seize and occupy Hodeida, considered the most important stronghold of Yemen’s resistance and home of the port responsible for supplying the country with up to 70 percent of its much-needed food imports.
SANA’A, YEMEN — Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Ansar Allah’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, welcomed U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ recent remarks urging an end to the three-year-long Saudi-led war in Yemen. In a tweet, Al-Houthi urged Mattis to announce an immediate end to the war, as well as to the Saudi coalition’s blockade that has triggered a famine in the world’s poorest nation.
SANA’A, YEMEN — Yemen’s air force said in a statement issued Sunday that an unmanned long-range drone, dubbed the Sammad-3 (Invincible-3), targeted the Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates for the second time, in retaliation for the Saudi coalition’s ongoing blockade of Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport.
A source said that the drone successfully bombed the airport, but did not mention whether the aircraft returned to its base in Yemen. There are no immediate reports about casualties or the extent of damage caused.
HODEIDA, YEMEN — The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition launched a massive military offensive against the Red Sea port city of Hodeida last night. The new attack is aimed at capturing the populated city, despite warnings by the United Nations and international rights groups that the move would have catastrophic humanitarian repercussions.
HAIFA, ISRAEL — On Wednesday, during a speech at a naval parade in Haifa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to deploy the Israeli military to Yemen if the country’s resistance movement blocks the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Yemen’s western coast.
SANA’A, YEMEN — Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) have submitted an initiative they hope will bring an end to conflict in Yemen and have unilaterally suspended retaliatory attacks against Saudi-led coalition forces in the Red Sea in order to support this effort.
A source in the Supreme Political Council, the highest political authority in Sana’a, told MintPress that the halt in retaliatory attacks in the Red Sea is aimed at preserving the Yemeni people and comes in response to regional and international efforts to bring peace to Yemen.
On Thursday morning, Yemen’s Air Defense Force shot down an aircraft belonging to the Saudi-led coalition with a surface-to-air missile after it took part in airstrikes against residential villages in northern Saada. The Saudi-led coalition confirmed that it lost a Tornado fighter jet, but claims the aircraft fell due to a technical issue and that the pilot survived the crash.
ASIR, YEMEN — In a new development in the Saudi-led coalition’s three-year-old war on Yemen, Yemen’s armed forces used a drone for the first time to target the coalition’s headquarters in Camp Boraiqa, Aden. A military source confirmed to MintPress that the strikes caused multiple casualties, killing troops from the UAE, including military officers.
HODEIDA, YEMEN — The United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, announced on Sunday a pause in the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led attacks against Yemen’s port city of Hodeida. He claimed the halt is intended to allow United Nations efforts to resolve the conflict to take place.
