Arab coalition aircraft bombarded Houthi fighters holed up at the airport of Yemen’s main port Hodeidah on Monday as a senior alliance official said he hoped UN diplomacy could coax the movement to cede the city.
Apache helicopter gunships fired at Houthi snipers and other fighters positioned on the rooftops of schools and homes in the Manzar neighbourhood abutting the airport compound, according to local residents. Houthi forces had blocked roads to the airport, they said. The Houthis’ al-Masira television reported six coalition air strikes on the Duraihmi district in the vicinity of the port.
The Houthis’ days in Hodeidah were numbered, said UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, adding that they needed to “as much as possible save the population”.
