Houthi Rebels In Yemen Say They Have Begun Withdrawing From 3 Strategic Ports

Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have begun a withdrawal from three key strategic ports that serve as a vital lifeline for food and humanitarian aid into the war-torn country.

If seen through, the withdrawal from the Red Sea port of Hudaydah, a key gateway for humanitarian aid into Yemen, as well as the ports of Ras Isa and Salif, would represent the first practical step by forces on the ground to implement an internationally-backed ceasefire agreed to in December.

The pullout has yet to be confirmed by the United Nations, but according to Reuters, rebel forces began withdrawing from Hudaydah port on Saturday. Rebels also said they had begun leaving Ras Isa, a port used for oil, and Salif, used for grain, according to The New York Times.

Under a December agreement brokered by the U.N., Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels agreed to pull out from the ports to allow desperately needed aid into the country. The U.N. says the conflict in Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The country is on the brink of famine, and an estimated 80 percent of Yemenis, or 24 million people, are in need of aid, according to the U.N.

The closure of the port in Hudaydah has had a particularly severe impact on the country. In December, reporter Jane Ferguson told NPR, "This city port is the most important in the entire country. This is where at least 80 percent of the foodstuffs come in to the north of Yemen."

The U.N. has repeatedly appealed for access to a vast store of grain at Hudaydah port, which is enough food to feed 3.7 million people for a month. Aid workers were unable to reach the storage of grain for five months, and have warned that it is at risk of rotting.

The withdrawal of Houthi forces is expected to take four days. But according to The New York Times, "The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, described the process as a 'fragile vessel.' "

Observers fear that if the withdrawal fails, the violence in Yemen could grow even more deadly. More than 10,000 people have been reported killed in Yemen over the last five months, bringing the war's death toll to over 70,000 since 2016, according to data collated by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted there were "encouraging signs" in Hudaydah, with reports that Houthis were "beginning to withdraw (under UN supervision) from the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah, Saleff and Ras Issa."

"Vital this happens in full," Hunt said. </s> Alwaght- The Yemeni conflict developments continue as on the one hand the United Nations envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has stepped up efforts to revive and implement the Stockholm peace deal on Hudaydah port and on the other hand Ansarullah and army forces of Yemen are engaged in newly escalated clashes with the forces and mercenaries loyal to the resigned President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi as well as the Saudi-Emirati coalition that has been involved in a military campaign against the Arab country since March 2015.

According to a UN announcement on Friday, Ansarullah movement, the key force fighting the Arab alliance and in charge of the revolutionary administration in the capital Sana’a and other major provinces, agreed to unilaterally remove its forces from the main ports of the country. The UN statement added that the voluntary withdrawal will be from the three ports of Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras Isa.

The UN released a statement on the move, welcoming it and saying that it will be first serious step towards cessation of fire in the country. It emphasized the need for the warring sides to take clarifying measures within the mechanism of the Stockholm agreement.

Ansarullah decision at the time being is quite tactical and smart because on the one side it will expose to the world the frequent violations of the opposite side in the process of the agreement implementation and on the other side accentuate its constructive role in the peace process as a reliable actor keeping its commitments. The movement seriously needs to disclose the Saudi-led coalition’s treacheries in the deal implementation. After the failure of the retreat and ceasefire deal, reached in mid-April between the two sides’ negotiators, Riyadh and its Western allies labeled the Yemeni resistant movement as the factor foiling the pro-peace efforts.

Hudaydah and Saif ports are located in the north of the southern province of Hudaydah and are the only lifelines taking in food and medical aids from the outside world amid a choking land, sea, and air siege imposed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2015. Ras Isa sea terminal is mainly used to import fuel to the highly-impoverished nation. The terminal hosts an oil storage with capacity of 5 million oil barrels and is connected to an oil refinery.

With regard to the significance of the three ports as the major lifelines to the heavily-suffocated Yemeni economy, the coalition states along with their Western backers have embarked on a strategy of economic pressure and blockade to force Ansarullah to abandon its resistance. If the Stockholm deal is implemented, the aggressors will find their only hope of winning a costly war of attrition totally shattering. Ansarullah seems to pave the way for this. With declaring a unilateral withdrawal from the key ports, it will give itself some room to put strains on the invaders using the UN, Security Council, and the global public condemnation.

Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Council, said that “the Yemeni people, their leaders, the army, and the popular committees proved their commitment to peace by the unilateral withdrawal from the ports.” He urged the world community to take measures against the parties that set up obstacles ahead of the Stockholm peace accord’s implementation.

The international pressures have been mounting over the past few months on the Arab alliance members and their Western arms providers to end the “inhumane” blockade on the Yemeni civilians that over the past five years caused a major humanitarian crisis marked by famine, impoverishment, and diseases spread. The World Peace Foundation, affiliated with the University of Tufts, suggested that the humanitarian crisis was instigated by the bombing campaign of the coalition and the economic crisis in the already-suffering nation.

But from another side, the Ansarullah-led popular forces and the army have been advancing in other southern fronts like in Dhale province along with the pullout from the three ports, proving that contrary to the Western-Arab media, Ansarullah’s power is far from declining and the withdrawal is just a tactical step and is not motivated by pressure and force.

While on Friday the Hadi loyalists in a statement announced launching an operation to cleanse Dhale, Maris, and Al-Sanah, the recent strong response to the opponents by Ansarullah and its allies remind of the fact that the movement is pro-peace and committed to its promises. While it holds the power to deal blows to the aggression forces, the movement seeks to avoid further war and bloodshed in the country. </s> Yemen’s Houthi group has agreed to unilaterally redeploy forces out of three key ports between May 11 and May 14 to pave the way for United Nations management of the ports under a UN-brokered peace deal, a UN committee said on Friday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, who heads a UN mission to monitor the deal, said the Houthis intended to start withdrawing on Saturday from the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras-Issa.

 

 In a statement, the Redeployment Coordination Committee said it was important that the move be followed by “the committed, transparent and sustained actions of the parties to fully deliver on their obligations”.

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the Arab coalition-backed Yemen government initially agreed in December to withdraw troops by January 7 from Hodeidah - a lifeline for millions facing famine - under a truce aimed at averting a full-scale assault on the port and paving the way for negotiations to end the four-year war. </s> Yemen's Houthi rebels have begun on Saturday a unilateral withdrawal from two strategic ports on the Red Sea coast in the west of the country, under a United Nations-sponsored agreement with the internationally recognized government, Houthi sources reported.

Al-Masirah television, controlled by the Houthis, has announced that the withdrawal began in Saleef and Ras Isa ports, under the supervision of two UN teams. </s> SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have begun a long-delayed withdrawal of their forces from the key port city of Hodeida, following a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, says the pullout from Hodeida, as well as Salif and Ras-Issa ports started on Saturday at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV channel says U.N. observers are monitoring the forces’ withdrawal.

The head of the U.N. operation monitoring the cease-fire, Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, said Friday that the Houthi’s withdrawal from the three ports marked the first practical step toward realizing the cease-fire agreed on in December in Sweden. He added that the Houthis must commit to fully following through on the redeployment, which is expected to take place over three days. </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - The first day of a withdrawal of forces by Yemen’s Houthi movement from three of Yemen’s Red Sea ports went “in accordance with established plans”, the head of a U.N. mission to monitor the deal said on Sunday.

“All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security,” Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the U.N.’s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), said in a statement. </s> The Saudi-led coalition forces on Wednesday launched a major military operation to recapture Yemeni port of Al-Hudaydah from Shia Houthi rebels.

“The operation to recapture Al-Hudaydah city and port has begun,” Yemeni military spokesman Abdullah al-Shuabi said.

Sounds of explosions and bombing were heard in the southern outskirts of the port city by Saudi-led coalition warplanes and warships.

Al-Shuabi said government forces have captured major military sites at the city’s southern entrance.

He said scores of Houthi rebels had surrendered themselves during the first hours of the offensive.

There was no comment from the Shia Houthi group on the claim.

In a statement, the Yemeni government said it had consumed all peaceful and political means to dislodge Houthi rebels from the strategic port.

“The liberation of Al-Hudaydah port is a turning point in our struggle to recapture Yemen from the militias that hijacked it to serve foreign agendas,” it said in the statement cited by the official Saba news agency.

“The liberation of the port is the start of the fall of the Houthi militia and will secure marine shipping in Bab al-Mandab strait and cut off the hands of Iran, which has long drowned Yemen in weapons that shed precious Yemeni blood,” it added.

Al-Hudaydah port is a vital supply line through which as much as 80 percent of humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Yemen goes through.

Impoverished Yemen has been wracked by violence since 2014, when the Shia Houthi group overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as one of “the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times”. </s> Houthi rebels have announced a ceasefire deal with the Yemeni government and withdrawal from the port city of Al-Hudaydah during UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden.

"We agreed on an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all sides in Al-Hudaydah under a UN committee's supervision," Houthi negotiator Jamal Amer said.

He said the supervision of the city’s ports will be given to the UN.

The UN-brokered talks kicked off in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Dec. 6 in an effort to end the 4-year military conflict in Yemen.

Talks between the two warring parties tackle the release of captives, the fight in Al-Hudaydah, Yemen’s central bank, access to humanitarian aid and the Sanaa airport.

As for the Sanaa Airport, Amer said an "initial agreement took place between the two parties on the opening of the airport… with the UN taking technical supervision of all the airports of Yemen."

"However, the other side insists that the airport remains local," he said.

There was no comment from the Yemeni government on the Houthi claim.

Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, and the key port city of Hudaydah.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including its health and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Yemen's Houthi movement has begun withdrawing forces from the country’s port of Saleef in Hodeidah province, finally invoking the terms of a United Nations-sponsored peace deal five months after the agreement was made.

It is the first major step in implementing the deal, which was reached by the Saudi-backed Yemen government of President Abed-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Iran-aligned Houthis for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah last year. The deal is part of international efforts to end the four-year conflict.

The UN's Redeployment Coordination Committee had earlier said the Houthis would make an "initial unilateral redeployment" between Saturday and Tuesday from the ports of Saleef and Ras Isa, as well as the country's main port of Hodeidah.

The Committee said the redeployment would allow the UN to take "a leading role" in supporting the Red Sea Ports Corporation in the management of the Yemeni ports. It also said that this would enhance UN checks on cargoes.

The Houthi group and the Yemeni agreed last December - after a week of UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden - to cease fighting and withdraw forces.

Under the original terms of the deal, international monitors were to be deployed in Hodeidah and all armed forces were to have pulled back completely within 21 days of the start of the ceasefire.

The Houthi movement said it had decided to ‘redeploy unilaterally’ because the government and its international backers had refused to implement the Stockholm agreement.

Hodeidah has become the focus of the war since last year when the coalition twice tried to seize its port to cut off the Houthis' main supply line.

Both sides are expected to pull back further in a second phase.

A spokesman for the Yemeni delegation to the Redeployment Coordination Committee emphasised that the beginning of the Houthi move was “the first step of the first stage.”

The UN has commented that the first day of Houthi redeployment was "in accordance with established plans."
Houthi forces begin to withdraw from several Yemeni ports, including Al Hudaydah, As-Salif and Ras Isa. The withdrawal is part of a UN-brokered ceasefire deal that aims to end the blockade of Yemen.