Eid in Hodeidah: Yemenis too poor to eat or flee fighting celebrate holiest night of the year

Yemenis mark end of Ramadan with food, sweets and gifts in face of fight for city and prospect of country-wide famine

A street vendor sells vegetables in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen, 14 June (Reuters)

Ahmed Abdullah Nasser sat with his brother and friends on the front in Hodeidah as the sun set over the Red Sea on Thursday night, marking the end of a month of fasting and the beginning of the festival of Eid.

Saudi warships floated in the distance as they celebrated with fish and shisha – both rare and expensive commodities since Yemen’s war broke out three years ago.

There have been no fireworks, or traditional lights hung across the streets, because people can’t afford fuel to run generators.

The 28-year-old bookseller’s wife and two children are in the capital Sanaa, where he thinks they will be safer.

But he misses them dearly at a time that should be spent with family.

“My son is five. He is old enough to understand there is fighting. He asks me about the airstrikes and the ‘bad people’.

“I try not to tell him too much because I don’t want to worry him,” he says, via a shaky Skype connection.

“I hope they enjoy the clothes and sweets I bought for them for Eid. It’s not easy to save for those anymore.”

In the last three days, three government-allied Yemeni militias as well as Saudi and UAE Arab coalition forces have moved into position around Hodeidah in preparation for a huge offensive to retake it from Houthi rebels.

A United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the emergency on Thursday night ended with no significant action, a frustrated source in the aid world close to the talks said.

A Yemeni boy walks in a cemetery in the capital Sanaa on 15 June (AFP)

“Despite international warnings and letters from senior US senators and UK parliamentarians, only Sweden called for a ceasefire. Kuwait continues to block any statements,” they said.

Yemeni government spokesperson Rajeh Badi said overnight on Thursday that Operation “Golden Victory” is on hold again.

But as with several other offensives in Yemen’s brutal war, and amid rising tensions between the allies, it is not clear the Yemenis, Saudis and UAE are on the same page.

The battle for Hodeidah is one of the most important in the war to date, and has consequences for the entire country.

As well as the immediate threat of urban warfare, shelling and airstrikes, Hodeidah’s port is Yemen’s aid lifeline, through which more than 70 per cent of the country’s imports flow.

Any damage to its infrastructure or hold up in the supply chain could send the eight million Yemenis currently on the brink of famine into full-scale hunger.

A further two thirds of the 28 million-strong population is dependent on aid to survive.

Hodeidah, as Yemen’s second largest city and most important commercial centre, has already seen more than its fair share of hardships, Kevin Watkins, CEO of Save the Children, told The Independent.

“On a recent visit to Hodeidah I saw first hand how desperate the situation is.

“The city has already taken in hundreds of thousands of displaced people; government services have totally collapsed; malnutrition rates are high.

“We’re doing what we can but scale is already beyond what we can handle. This is the brink civilians must be protected from.”

Arab coalition airstrikes that began in 2015 at the behest of Yemen’s exiled government knocked out several cranes at Hodeidah’s port three years ago.

The city has already taken in hundreds of thousands of displaced people; government services have totally collapsed; malnutrition rates are high 

Kevin Watkins, CEO of Save the Children 

It has functioned at a limited capacity since, and the Saudi-led blockade has escalated Yemen’s intertwined cholera, fuel, food, water and healthcare crises.

There are few jobs in Hodeidah and inflation is sky high.

“My family is lucky,” says Ahmed.

“But many people here are eating one meal a day only.

“You could maybe get out … use the road to Sanaa to escape the fighting that will happen here. But no one can afford the fuel or the transport.”

Yemen has not seen large-scale urban fighting to date, but Hodeidah could change that.

Coalition and Yemeni government officials in Riyadh have promised a swift operation in which the Houthis will retreat to the surrounding mountains.

But previous battles for Aden, Mocha and elsewhere suggest the fighting could be long and bloody.

The Houthis have a proven track record of using civilians as shields, and reports say the city and suburbs are heavily mined.

Civilians stand to suffer most, particularly if a prolonged siege situation develops.

According to Unicef, almost half the city’s 600,000 population are children, particularly vulnerable to cholera and malnutrition.

Most aid agencies made sure around six months’ of emergency medical supplies and hygiene kits were available before they were forced to evacuate international staff over the weekend.

“The situation on the ground is very complicated and the humanitarian situation is dire. We are not sure about the movement of troops,” said Meritxell Relaño, Unicef’s resident representative based in Sanaa.

“We call on all the parties to protect the lives of civilians, children and basic civilian infrastructure.”

Rates of cholera and malnutrition are high across the country (AFP/Getty)

A five-point aid plan released by the coalition on Thursday notably did not mention safe routes out of the city, any support plans for internally displaced people (IDPs) or efforts to avoid targeting civilian infrastructure, an NGO source said.

The coalition’s airstrike capabilities – which have managed to hit schools, medical facilities, weddings and funeral gatherings in the past – have been roundly criticised by rights groups.

Officials in former US president Barack Obama’s administration worried the sale of arms to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi destined for use in Yemen’s war could amount to war crimes, but most Western governments continue to sell munitions to the Arab coalition.

US and UK opposition to the Hodeidah offensive has become notably more subdued in recent weeks.

A statement from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week said that the US was closely monitoring the situation, but did not explicitly ask the UAE to hold off on the offensive.

Strong words from the UK’s foreign office minister Alistair Burt during an urgent question in parliament on Monday, during which he said the UK was doing its best to discourage UAE forces from the attack, were not echoed by foreign secretary Boris Johnson after the offensive began.

The UN’s special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has repeatedly warned, however, that the offensive will derail any nationwide peace talks with the Houthis.

He is still locked in talks with all parties and hopeful that a political solution can be reached, a UN source said after Thursday’s closed door meeting.

At the very least, his office says, Hodeidah’s port must be placed under UN control.

“Further military pressure on the Houthis may have the reverse effect of making them less amenable to enter proposed peace negotiations, since they will be in a weaker position,” Elisabeth Kendall of Oxford University previously told The Independent.

Retaking Hodeidah could potentially open a pathway to finally retaking the Yemeni capital of Sanaa from the rebels – but that does not necessarily equate to Houthi capitulation, Dr Kendall added.

“The Houthis’ heartlands in Yemen’s north have been pulverised after well over a decade of [guerrilla] war.

“They have every reason to defy military logic and keep fighting. Military gains may be of short term use.”

No matter the outcome, the fight for Hodeidah will shift the balance of power in the rest of the country as anti-Houthi factions struggle to emerge on top.

For Ahmed, his biggest worry is that the school and university textbooks he sells will stop arriving at the port, and the city will descend into lawlessness like Aden.

Recaptured from the Houthis by UAE forces in 2015, it is now supposedly the seat of Yemen’s displaced government, but is so dangerous Yemeni cabinet ministers prefer the safety of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“I don’t know what to do if the fighting goes on for a long time. There are no jobs in Sanaa,” Ahmed says.

“It’s not that safe there either. Maybe I should have spent Eid with my children after all.”