The United Arab Emirates, which has been engaged in a brutal aggression against Yemen, said on Sunday it had halted its military campaign against Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah, allegedly to support UN efforts to reach a political solution.
A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched an offensive on Hodeidah on June 12 in the largest battle of the war that the United Nations fears risks triggering a famine in Yemen where an estimated 8.4 million people are on the verge of starvation.
“We welcome continuing efforts by UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, to achieve an unconditional Houthi withdrawal from Hodeida city and port. We have paused our campaign to allow enough time for this option to be fully explored. We hope he will succeed,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter.
Yemeni revolutionary forces, composed of Yemeni army and popular committees, have been heroically confronting the offensive on Hodeidah, dealing forces led by Saudi Arabia and UAE heavy blows.
Yemen has been since March 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led Coalition, in a bid to restore control to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is Riyadh’s ally.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the strikes launched by the coalition, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
The coalition, which includes in addition to Saudi Arabia and UAE: Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait, has been also imposing a harsh blockade against Yemenis.
Source: Agencies