35k families displaced by Saudi attacks on Hudaydah

Saudi Arabia’s ground and air attacks on Yemen’s Hudaydah have displaced some 35,000 families so far, says the UN.

“As of 13 July, approximately 35,000 displaced households have been verified, and 20,000 of them have received RRM assistance,” said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Monday.

It added that the Saudi coalition’s continued airstrikes and artillery attacks in the Tuhayata and Zabid districts are still displacing families and disrupting basic services.

OCHA noted that the situation in the port city has slightly improved and that some people have returned to their homes.

“More civilians are moving within the city compared to previous weeks; shops and bakeries have reopened and water supply has improved following repairs to the main water pipeline,” it said.

“However, roads leading to airport, sea port and the Sana’a– Hudaydah road remain blocked by sand and concrete barriers,” it added.

The UN health agency has also warned over the “critical” conditions of civilians in Hudaydah, stressing that military operations in the key port city threaten over 70 percent of the population who are in need of relief aid.

Earlier in the day, local tribes have gathered in the capital Sana’a to voice their support for the Yemeni army and allied fighters from the Houthi movement in their fight for Hudaydah.

Cars, loaded with ammunition, on Sunday carried fighters to Sana’a where tribal heads pledged to take their battle to Hudaydah to confront the Saudi push for the Red Sea port, a lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population.

Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, Emirati forces and militants loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, launched the Hudaydah offensive on June 13 despite international warnings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging a war against Yemen since early 2015, claims that the Houthis are using Hudaydah for weapons delivery, an allegation rejected by the fighters.

The coalition of aggressors has, however, failed to make any major gains in the face of stiff resistance from Houthi fighters and their allied forces.