The fighting must stop – To create a space for peace

Attacking Hodeida city, after its airport, would be a far greater threat to Yemeni civilians

The Saudi- and UAE-led coalition has ignored all warnings and combined forces have pressed ahead to take Hodeida airport. The advance must now stop and efforts be refocused on peace. Taking the battle to a densely-populated city will have a much higher humanitarian toll.

There has already been a fierce fight around Mandher, the village close to the airport, where 2000 residents were trapped in the middle of a war zone; there was no safe passage for civilians to evacuate and ambulances could not reach there to tend to injured people. As one resident said on 16 June: ‘The humanitarian situation is at its worst and many people have been injured and two have been killed. The people want to a chance to evacuate to Hodeida or any other place but they couldn’t.’

Those who can leave, do. Several thousand people have fled from all three districts of Hodeida city (Hawk, Al Hali and Al Meena); many more are trapped and terrified, too afraid or unable to leave.

The longer this continues, the deeper the humanitarian cost will be – in Hodeida and across the country – with impacts on food, water, nutrition, education and livelihoods. For example, it is currently the harvesting season for dates, but fighting is preventing farmers from harvesting and selling their crops. Already, 14 out of 26 districts in Hodeida are in ‘pre-famine’ conditions.

The Saudi- and UAE-led coalition has presented a ‘relief’ plan, but this should be seen as an exercise in public relations. It is precisely this same coalition that deepened suffering with its port blockade in November 2017, which prevented or reduced humanitarian and commercial trade for months. And many areas under Coalition control are suffering from extreme food insecurity right now.