Fears Grow of Imminent Attack on Yemen’s Humanitarian Port

The United Nations is racing to avoid an imminent offensive on a major Yemeni port city considered a lifeline for the country’s war-ravaged population.

The UN Security Council is conducting an urgent meeting over the expected assault on Yemen’s Hodeida. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there are “intense negotiations” and his Yemen envoy is involved in shuttle diplomacy to stave off the attack, CNN reported.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, is shuttling between the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to find “a way to avoid the military confrontation in Hodeida,” Guterres said at a briefing Monday.

Oxfam said the UK’s Department for International Development sent aid groups in Yemen warnings on Saturday evening for staff to evacuate the port city by Tuesday. It said the UAE had given the agency a notice to evacuate.

Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, Mohsin Siddiquey, said aid groups were “moving very fast” to evacuate staff in Hodeida before the imminently expected attack has a “catastrophic impact”.

“From our partners, we are receiving that there is a clear indication that families are leaving the city and there have already been shortages of fuel and other essential supplies,” Siddiquey told CNN. He estimates that over a million people live in the greater Hodeida area which is expected to be targeted in the offensive.

Griffiths previously said an attack on Hodeida would “take peace off the table in a single stroke.”