On July 28, a source familiar with the situation told the UAE-based al-Arabiya TV that the Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni proxies deployed more units along the western coast in order to launch a new attack on the strategic port of al-Hudaydah.
According to the source, the coalition took the decision to resume its military operations along the western Yemeni coast because the Houthis refused to withdraw from al-Hudaydah and stepped up their attacks on the international shipping lines in the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, the Sky News Arabiya TV reported that warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition conducted eight airstrikes on positions of the Houthis in the city of al-Hudaydah and several districts south of it. A day earlier, coalition warplanes carried out a similar series of airstrikes.
Last month, the Saudi-led coalition launched several ground attacks on the city of al-Hudaydah and captured several key positions south of it, including the airport. However, the Houthis managed to reverse the coalition advance within hours every time.
Houthis should get ready with their antitank weaponry and shish kebab some M1 and Leclerc, reducing their mobility and making their adavance problematic and expensive in casualties.
Correction, the Coalition never took the airport and this is based on reports from the Coalition. Commanders involved in the attempt to take the airport stated that they would at best advance into the airport grounds but retreat soon after so none of the airport was ever actually occupied with any degree of success.
The Coalition forces withdrew to positions 5km south of the airport in late June as supply problems mounted. This coincided with reports by aid agencies in the Port of Hodeidah that the intensity of fighting on the ground was decreasing until end of June when they reported hardly any fighting – before, there were constant sounds of explosions and gunfire from the direction of the airport and now, almost nothing. This is consistent with supply problems and not a decision to pause as the cessation of fighting was a gradual process.
If the Coalition intends to restart the offensive, it will be with fresh fodder which apparently took a month to prepare. Note that the announcement of a pause to allow negotiations has been reported by media without question despite the pause only seeming to be near the port, as fighting continued elsewhere. This is consistent with resupply problem as the west coast corridor proved, predictably, untenable for maintaining minimum supply for advancing coalition forces. Also consistent with supply issues is the Coalition resorting to heavy air strikes on the port and airport since supply was not an issue for the Air Force.
If the Coalition is planning to assault the port from the south along a narrow coastal corridor as before, how will the outcome be any different. Unless there is something we do not know that could alter the outcome, this new offensive has lost before it even started.
Has this been going on for 2 months now? SA coalition trash should push forward more supplies to be captured by Houthis. :)
Like a broken record, been repeating for three years and more. Yes, I posted that the US, not Iran, was supplying the Houthis. US arms arrive, given to coalition troops, Houthis attack and coalition troops flee leaving behind equipment and supplies. Houthis successfully resupplied!
Either the ground attack is just cover to launch air attacks to destroy civilian infrastructure (what I believe) or maybe they will also attack from another direction.
This story misstates things. It was the Saudis who rejected the UN proposal to take over Hudaya unless the Houthis relinquished control over the entire country. They made a demand that was totally unreasonable. https://news.antiwar.com/2018/07/27/saudi-led-forces-resume-strikes-on-yemens-main-port-city/
Yes, the Coalition demands were unreasonable but the article you link to is highly inaccurate. The Coalition demanded the Houthis completely abandon the Port and surrounding area as well as relaease all coalition prisoners held. The Houthis offered to hand admin control to the UN but refused to leave.
The Houthis know that the coalition want the port and airport as a forward staging area for further offensive operations against the Houthis. Of great importance is that supply by sea will be far more secure than the exposed corridor along the western coast that doomed the June 13th operation to seize the port.
Also, the Coalition have been bombing Hodeidah throughout the supposed ‘pause’ in coalition operations to take the port city. So they did not resume because they never stopped. Also the pause was announce before July 1.
As for the reason for the pause, it is straightforward. The main coalition forces pressing the offensive to take Hodeidah failed to achieve any of their objectives including the airport. Houthis initiated a successful supply interdict on the western corridor leading to degradation of coalition forces until eventually they were incapable of offensive operations – aid organizations in Hodeidah described the gradual reduction in fighting intensity in the direction of the airport which is consistent with units being supply starved and not a decision to pause given fighting tapered over time.
I have posted elsewhere on this but suffice it to say the coalition forces that were committed to assaulting and taking Hodeidah, have ceased to exist.
https://youtu.be/RrJ1wi8SJtA Russia and Iran are defeating US and NATO forces and their proxies Israel, ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Syria. Published on 12 Jul 2018
Now Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan want to stop ISIS expansion in Afghanistan while having questions about unmarked helicopters flying ISIS to Afghanistan and US are ignoring it. Does it not make sense that US has created and financed ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
Any government that allied with US and UK mean that they indirectly allied and support Israel, ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Hope these professional global killers will go down soon.
Saudis face the same problem again and again in their now apparent and failed strategy. They want to cut off the Houthis from the sea (and any possibility of getting resupplied after getting recognized as a state by third parties)and push them to negotiate on their terms.The problem is apparent. They dont have enough man power (or equipment,or the budget) to man a thousands of km long fortified line that would allow them to move on supplies lines unobstructed. They could use surveillance drones to get a situational awearence on real time, and an all times preventive strikes capability, but they would still need thousands of drones and thousands of men to control, maintain and gather information.
Houtis as the masters of the area should take care of any fresh water supplies in the vicinity and make it difficult for the other forces to get water anywhere. Having the summer weather on their side, troops will retreat if there is not sufficient drinking water available.