SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels have vowed to fight on after pro-government forces seized Hudaida airport from them on Wednesday, in a major step towards retaking the port city following a week-long battle.
Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi called for reinforcements to repel the advance of the Saudi and UAE-backed government forces, after ongoing fighting left nearly 350 people dead.
“We will face all of the incursions on the ground. Our determination will never be dented,” he said via the rebels’ Al-Masirah news outlet.
Saudi-Emirati coalition forces announced the capture of Hudaida airport on Wednesday morning, a day after breaking through the perimeter fence.
The airport was disused but it housed a major rebel base just inland from the coastal road into the city from the south.
Fresh clashes later erupted between UAE-backed government forces and the Iran-allied rebels on a road linking the airport to Hudaida port on the Red Sea coast, a Yemeni army source said.
Yemeni President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi said military “operations will continue on various fronts until (the capital) Sanaa and the whole territory” are retaken from the rebels.
On June 13, Yemen’s army and its allies launched their offensive to clear Hudaida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and food imports through the city’s docks.
The coalition has long accused Iran of smuggling weapons into Yemen through the seaport – accusations that are rejected by the Houthis and Tehran.
UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said the “liberation of Hudaida is the beginning to ending the war.
“The choice in Yemen is between the state and militia, between order and violence, between peace and war,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to Huthi militiamen.
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