Countdown begins to Hodeidah offensive as UN efforts fail...

Countdown begins to Hodeidah offensive as UN efforts fail
Diplomatic measures appear to have been exhausted and all signs point to a military battle for the city
The National

June 12, 2018
Updated: June 12, 2018 05:48 AM

All signs early on Tuesday pointed to an imminent offensive on Yemen’s coastal city of Hodeidah, led by the national Yemeni forces and with support from the Arab coalition to end the Houthi militia control over the city.
On Monday, UAE’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed met in Saudi Arabia with Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to discuss the flow of humanitarian aid to the country according to the Emirates News Agency. In New York, a meeting at the United Nations Security Council failed to bring forth a diplomatic breakthrough to the stalemate.
UN envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths held several rounds of talks last week in Sanaa without being able to convince the Houthis to hand control over of the Hodeidah port to UN-supervised international forces. The Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE agreed to international supervision over the port, but this was also met by Houthis’ rejection .
Hodeidah port is Yemen’s second largest, and is the Houthis’ main lifeline in the north.
With the failure of the diplomatic efforts, the clock was ticking to the launch of a military offensive to liberate the city. Saudi media outlet, Al Ekhbariya, ran a video that showed a battle map of Yemeni forces on the outskirts of the city:

The Emirates news agency, quoting the governor of Hodeidah Al Hassan Ali Taher, said “intensified preparations are under way, including [the movement] of heavy artillery and troops to push Houthis out of the city.”

2:40 AM - Jun 12, 2018

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the US “is closely following developments” and has “spoken with Emirati leaders and made clear our desire to address their security concerns while preserving the free flow of humanitarian aid and life-saving commercial imports.”
Maintaining open corridors for the aid and avoiding a humanitarian crisis in a city inhabited by half a million people is a key priority for Washington.
Militarily, one source predicted that “a wider campaign that involves serious coalition firepower ... makes it unlikely that the Houthis will be able to hold the city or its port for more than a few weeks.”
The coalition would need to sever the highway running north of the city, and also secure the port and airport to establish bases of operation close to the city.
Urban battles, however, will jeopardise civilian lives and risks bogging down assaulting forces.
The spokesperson of the Arab coalition Colonel Turki Maliki, stressed in a press conference on Monday the need to protect civilians and sustain the flow of aid. Yemen’s minister of human rights Mohamad Askar summed up the dilemma by tweeting:
“There is a humanitarian cost to liberate #Hodeidah, but if the city remains under the control of the Iranian-backed #Houthis militias that’s will result in a higher cost for sure.”