• Saudi-led coalition launches air strikes on Yemen’s main port city | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/saudi-led-coalition-launches-air-strikes-on-yemens-main-port-city-idUSKBN1K

    A Saudi-led coalition launched heavy air strikes on Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah on Friday, in an apparent resumption of military operations on the Red Sea city after the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement attacked two Saudi oil tankers.

    Residents said coalition warplanes had begun their bombardment after midnight, attacking a Houthi military police camp in the city center, a plastics factory north of the city, and the districts of Zubaid and al-Tahita to the south.

    #Hodeida #Yemen

  • Saudi Arabia suspends oil exports through Red Sea lane after Houthi attack | Reuters
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security/houthis-target-saudi-warship-off-yemen-coast-al-masirah-tv-idUKKBN1KF0WN

    Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was “temporarily halting” all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of #Bab_al-Mandeb after an attack on two big oil tankers by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

    Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in a statement sent by his ministry that the Houthis had attacked two Saudi Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) in the Red Sea on Wednesday morning, one of which sustained minimal damage.

    Saudi Arabia is temporarily halting all oil shipments through Bab al-Mandeb Strait immediately until the situation becomes clearer and the maritime transit through Bab al-Mandeb is safe,” the statement said.

    #Bab_el_Mandeb

    • Les deux pétroliers, non identifiés, appartiennent à Bahri, la filiale Maritime de Saudi Aramco.
      http://www.bahri.sa/Images/logo.aspx?width=423&height=129&ext=.png

      Saudi Arabia suspends oil exports through Bab al-Mandeb | Yemen News | Al Jazeera
      https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/saudi-arabia-suspends-oil-exports-bab-el-mandeb-180725215417388.html

      A statement by the coalition said one tanker was attacked west of Yemen’s Hodeidah port but did not name the vessel or describe how it was hit.

      The Saudi oil tanker was subjected to slight damage due to the attack by the Houthi militia,” the statement said. “Thankfully the attack failed due to immediate intervention of the coalition’s fleet.

      A statement from Saudi Aramco said “two Very Large Crude Carriers [VLCCs], each with a two million barrels capacity ... were attacked by terrorist Houthi militia this morning in the Red Sea. One of the ships sustained minimal damage. No injuries nor oil spill have been reported”.

    • هل هُناك عَلاقة بين هُجوم الحوثيين على نَاقِلَة نِفط سُعوديّة في البَحر الأحمر وتَهديد إيران بإغلاق مَضيق هرمز؟ ولماذا تتزايَد تسريبات الإمارات حَول نواياها بسَحبِ قُوّاتِها مِن اليَمن هَذهِ الأيّام؟ وكيف نُفَسِّر الصَّمت السُّعوديّ تُجاهَها؟ | رأي اليوم
      https://www.raialyoum.com/index.php/%d9%87%d9%84-%d9%87%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%83-%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%a9-%d8%

      Edito ABA dans Rai al-yom : "Y a-t-il un lien entre l’assaut des Houthis contre le pétrolier saoudien en mer Rouge et les menaces iraniennes de fermer le détroit d’Hormuz ? Pourquoi voit-on se multiplier les rumeurs à propos d’un retrait des forces émiriennes au Yémen ? Pourquoi ce silence saoudien sur ce sujet ?

    • D’après Mujtahidd, il ne s’agit pas d’un pétrolier mais bel et bien d’un bâtiment de guerre....

      السفينة التي ضربت قرب باب المندب كانت بارجة حربية سعودية لكن ابن سلمان تحاشى أن يعترف أن الحوثيين لديهم قدرة على تدمير سفنه الحربية فزعم أنها ناقلة نفط الأحمق لم يدرك أن الاعتراف بعجز كامل عن حماية باب المندب بعد ثلاث سنوات من الحرب أخطر من الاعتراف بضرب بارجة حربية

    • UAE Calls Houthi Attack on Oil Shipments Totally Irresponsible - The New York Times
      https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/07/26/world/26reuters-yemen-security-emirates.html

      An attack on Wednesday by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on two oil tankers in the Red Sea was totally irresponsible, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said.

      This is a totally irresponsible act,” he told an audience in London on Thursday. “The effect of it actually is much wider than the region.

      He added: “I think this is another example of why the Houthi takeover of the Yemeni government in Sanaa should end.

      Saudi Arabia and arch-foe Iran have been locked in a three-year proxy war in Yemen, which lies on one side of the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern mouth of the sea, one of the most important trade routes for oil tankers heading from the Middle East to Europe.

      The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states fighting to gain control of the Houthi-controlled main port of Hodeidah.

      The only way forward is to get Hodeidah,” Gargash said. “What we are planning to do is give diplomacy every possible chance to secure that.

      #yapuka … l’offensive « finale » sur Hodeida démarrée le 13 juin est « en pause » pour laisser sa chance à la diplomatie depuis le 1er juillet.

    • Saudi Arabia resumes oil exports through Red Sea lane | Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/saudi-arabia-to-resume-oil-exports-through-red-sea-lane-idUSKBN1KP0B7

      Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it has resumed all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb.

      Saudi Arabia halted temporarily oil shipments through the lane on July 25 after attacks on two oil tankers by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

      A statement by the Energy Ministry said shipments had resumed on Saturday.

      The decision to resume oil shipment through the strait of Bab al-Mandeb was made after the leadership of the coalition has taken necessary measures to protect the coalition states’ ships,” Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in the ministry statement.

  • Saudi-led coalition assault on Yemen port would be disaster - aid agencies | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters
    https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5N1T31C3

    • Senior aid officials fear bloodbath that closes down lifeline
    • Coalition forces about 20 kms from main port city of Hodeidah
    • “We cannot have war in Hodeidah”, Jan Egeland says

    By Stephanie Nebehay
    GENEVA, June 1 (Reuters) - As forces of the Saudi-led military coalition close in on the main Yemeni port city of #Hodeidah, aid agencies fear a major battle that will also shut down a vital lifeline for millions of hungry civilians.

    Senior aid officials urged Western powers providing arms and intelligence to the coalition to push the mostly Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab allies to reconvene U.N. talks with the Iran-allied Houthi movement to avoid a bloodbath and end the three-year war.

    A coalition spokesman said on Tuesday that forces backed by the coalition were 20 kms (12 miles) from the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah, but did not specify whether there were plans for an assault to seize the Red Sea port, long a key target.

    The coalition ground forces are now at the doorstep of this heavily-fortified, heavily-mined port city,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters. “Thousands of civilians are fleeing from the outskirts of Hodeidah which is now a battle zone.

    We cannot have war in Hodeidah, it would be like war in Rotterdam or Antwerp, these are comparable cities in Europe.

    Troops from the United Arab Emirates and Yemeni government are believed to lead coalition forces massing south of the city of 400,000, another aid official said, declining to be named.

    Last week U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock urged the Saudi-led coalition that controls Yemen’s ports to expedite food and fuel imports. He warned that a further 10 million Yemenis could face starvation by year-end in addition to 8.4 million already severely short of food in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

    • Suite logique (!) de

      Saudi-led coalition closes in on Yemen port city Hodeidah | Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/saudi-led-coalition-closes-in-on-yemen-port-city-hodeidah-idUSKCN1IT21K

      Forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition are closing in on Yemen’s Houthi-held port city Hodeidah, a coalition spokesman said, but did not specify whether there were plans for an assault to seize the western port, long a key target in the war.

      Hodeidah is 20 km (12.43 miles) away and operations are continuing,” spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said at a press briefing in the Saudi capital Riyadh late on Monday, detailing gains made against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

      The Western-backed military alliance last year announced plans to move on Hodeidah, but backed off amid international pressure, with the United Nations warning that any attack on the country’s largest port would have a “catastrophic” impact.

      The renewed push towards Hodeidah comes amid increased tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are locked in a three-year-old proxy war in Yemen that has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced three million and pushed the impoverished country to the verge of starvation.

      Yemeni officials told Reuters earlier this month that troops were advancing on Hodeidah province but did not plan to launch an assault on densely populated areas nearby.

      Coalition-backed troops have now reached al-Durayhmi, a rural area some 18 km from Hodeidah port, residents and the spokesperson for one military unit told Reuters on Monday.

    • Ça se rapproche encore, par le sud, cette fois-ci

      Fighting rages near Yemen’s Hodeidah airport
      http://www.arabnews.pk/node/1313041/middle-east

      As joint forces of the Arab coalition rapidly moved closer to Hodeidah, fighting in areas six kilometers away from the city’s airport intensified on Wednesday, military sources said.
      Yemen’s army said units from the “rapid intervention forces” were currently positioned in Al-Durayhmi and were ready to enter the strategic port city of Hodeidah from the south.

      Yemeni army spokesman Abdo Abdullah Majali told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that the rapid intervention forces are trained to fight inside small neighborhoods and hunt down Houthi militias hiding in fortified buildings. He added that they would work to clear these buildings in preparation for the army’s entry into Hodeidah and its liberation while ensuring that residents remained safe.

      Majali added that the liberation of Hodeidah would help the army to advance on several other Yemeni cities because of its strategic position as a port city and its proximity to Taiz, Ibb, Al-Mahwit, Dhamar, and Hajjah.

      At least 53 rebels died in fighting in Hodeidah on Wednesday while seven pro-government fighters were killed and 14 wounded, according to medical sources.

      A military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi militias experienced heavy losses on fronts in the province of Saada as a result of confusion and panic.

  • Yemen’s Houthi leader says could target Saudi oil tankers if Hodeidah attacked
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/yemens-houthi-leader-says-could-target-saudi-oil-tankers-if-hodeida-attacke

    Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said on Thursday his group could target Saudi oil tankers should Saudi Arabia attack Yemen’s main port at Hodeidah.

    We could target Saudi oil tankers and we could do anything,” he said.

    In a televised speech, the leader also said his group’s ballistic missiles were capable of reaching the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi and anywhere inside Saudi Arabia.

    It was unclear whether the Houthi group has the capability to carry out its threats.