Saudi-led troops fight rebel forces south of Yemen's Hodeida

Troops in a Saudi-led coalition captured a town south of Yemen's port city of Hodeida on Thursday as fierce fighting and airstrikes pounded the area, officials said, on the second day of an offensive to capture the strategic harbor.

In this Feb. 12, 2018 photo, Saudi-led backed forces, part of Ahmed al-Kawkabani's, southern resistance unit in Hodeida, ride their vehicle in Hodeida, Yemen. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

A Saudi military spokesman described forces drawing closer to Hodeida (hoh-DY'-duh) , through which some 70 percent of Yemen's food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of humanitarian aid and fuel supplies in this country on the brink of famine. Around two-thirds of the country's population of 27 million relies on aid and 8.4 million are already at risk of starving.

International aid agencies and the United Nations had warned Saudi and Emirati forces not to launch the assault against the Shiite rebels known as Houthis who hold the city, fearful it could shut down that vital route for aid. However, the UAE's ambassador to U.N. agencies in Geneva maintained that the coalition had no choice but to act.

"Should we leave the Houthis smuggling missiles?" Ambassador Obaid Salem al-Zaabi asked journalists. "This comes from this seaport. We already gave the United Nations the chance to operate from this seaport, and (the Houthis) refused."

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, file photo, a Yemeni soldier allied to the country's internationally recognized government unslings his machine gun on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)

The ambassador's comments contradict a January U.N. panel of experts report calling it "unlikely" the Houthis used Hodeida for smuggling arms. The panel cited the fact that vessels coming into the port faced random inspection, required U.N. approval and no weapons had been seized on the route since March 2017.

However, the U.N. and Western nations say Iran has supplied the Houthis with weapons, from assault rifles to the ballistic missiles they have fired deep into Saudi Arabia, including at the capital, Riyadh. Over 150 ballistic missiles in all have been fired into the kingdom by the Houthis, according to Saudi officials.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement the port remained open Thursday, citing information from the U.N. There were "four vessels filled with food and fuel at berth" and another five vessels at anchorage, it said.

"People in the governorate have reported heavy airstrikes along coastal areas and roads in districts south of Hodeida city," the council said. "No direct attacks have been reported within Hodeida city itself, despite the overhead presence of fighter jets."

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2017, file photo, a tribesman loyal to the Houthi rebels, right, chants slogans during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters into battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities, in Sanaa, Yemen.  (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

Meanwhile, soldiers took the town of Nakhila in Yemen's ad-Durayhimi district, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) south of Hodeida International Airport, according to Yemen's government-run SABA news agency.

Fighters continued to move closer to the airport in fighting Thursday. Col. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesman, described coalition forces as around 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the airfield in an interview with Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al Arabiya.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's exiled government launched the assault on Hodeida on Wednesday, raising warnings from aid agencies that Yemen's humanitarian disaster could deepen.

The attack is aimed at driving out Iranian-aligned Houthis, who have held Hodeida since 2015, and break the civil war's long stalemate. But it could set off a prolonged street-by-street battle that inflicts heavy casualties.

The fear is that a protracted fight could force a shutdown of Hodeida's port at a time when a halt in aid risks tipping millions into starvation.

The initial battle plan appeared to involve a pincer movement. Some 2,000 troops who crossed the Red Sea from an Emirati naval base in the African nation of Eritrea were awaiting orders to move in from the west after Yemeni government forces seize Hodeida's port, Yemeni security officials said.

In this Feb. 12, 2018 photo, a boat docks on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, Yemen. Yemeni pro-government forces are planning an all-out assault on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, a lifeline for aid to the war-ravaged country, a military commander said Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Emirati forces with Yemeni government troops moved in from the south near Hodeida's airport, while others sought to cut off Houthi supply lines to the east, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

Four Emirati soldiers were killed in Wednesday's assault, the United Arab Emirates' state-run news agency said, but gave no details of how they died. Al-Zaabi, the UAE ambassador in Geneva, said they died in the Hodeida campaign, without elaborating.

Hodeida is some 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, Yemen's capital, which has been in Houthi hands since September 2014. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015.

The United Nations and other aid groups already had pulled their international staff from Hodeida ahead of the assault. The U.N. Security Council was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the offensive.

In this Feb. 12, 2018 photo, Saudi-led backed forces, part of Ahmed al-Kawkabani's, southern resistance unit in Hodeida, ride a motor bike in Hodeida, Yemen. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen's civil war, which has displaced 2 million others and helped spawn a cholera epidemic. Saudi-led airstrikes have killed large numbers of civilians and damaged vital infrastructure.

The coalition has blocked most ports, letting supplies into Hodeida in coordination with the U.N. The air campaign and fighting have disrupted other supply lines, causing an economic crisis that makes food too expensive for many to afford.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A top European Union military officer said that a frigate that’s part of an EU mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels on Thursday morning.

Austrian Gen. Robert Brieger, who is chair of the EU’s military committee, said that it would be crucial for the bloc to “conserve resources” over the long haul because the threat posed by Houthi attacks “will not disappear” due to its connection to the Israel-Hamas war.

“The task given to the military is simply to protect merchant ships and to show the public that the European Union is not willing to accept a terrorist organization will interrupt the freedom of movement at sea,” Brieger said.

Brieger said that he’s asking EU members to provide the necessary resources to the EU mission dubbed Aspides — Greek for “shields.”

He said that it’s the first time that the EU has launched a naval operation in a hostile environment that's twice the size of the 27-nation bloc, calling it a “litmus test” that the bloc will pass successfully.

The commander of an EU naval mission in the Red Sea, Greek Rear Adm. Vasilios Gryparis, wants to significantly increase its size to better defend against possible attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. Nineteen of the 27 EU nations are involved in the mission, but only four frigates are patrolling an area twice the size of the bloc.

The EU mission was established in February to defend civilian vessels and doesn't take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which control much of Yemen’s north and west, launched a campaign of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in November. They have also fired missiles toward Israel, although those have largely fallen short or been intercepted.

The attacks have hit maritime trade to Egypt and Europe, with only around half the usual number of ships moving through the area. It’s added up to two weeks of transit time for vessels that want to avoid the Suez Canal, hiking transport costs and shipping insurance.

The rebels have described their campaign as an effort to pressure Israel to end the wear. The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, largely have had little or no connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war.

Their campaign has continued despite more than two months of U.S.-led retaliatory airstrikes.

General Robert Brieger, chairman of the EU's Military Committee talks to the media during a press conference after a meeting with the Cyprus national guard chief Georgios Tsitsikostas at the Defense Ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The European Union's top military official says a frigate that's part of an EU military mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping has destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. Brieger said the downing of the drone took place Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

General Robert Brieger, chairman of the EU's Military Committee talks to the media during a press conference after a meeting with the Cyprus national guard chief Georgios Tsitsikostas at the Defense Ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The European Union's top military official says a frigate that's part of an EU military mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping has destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. Brieger said the downing of the drone took place Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

General Robert Brieger, chairman of the EU's Military Committee talks to the media during a press conference after a meeting with the Cyprus national guard chief Georgios Tsitsikostas at the Defense Ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The European Union's top military official says a frigate that's part of an EU military mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping has destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. Brieger said the downing of the drone took place Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

General Robert Brieger, chairman of the EU's Military Committee talks to the media during a press conference after a meeting with the Cyprus national guard chief Georgios Tsitsikostas at the Defense Ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. The European Union's top military official says a frigate that's part of an EU military mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping has destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. Brieger said the downing of the drone took place Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)