Yemen’s Houthis Say They Won’t Give Up Port

Local Editor

A senior Houthi leader in Yemen said Tuesday that his group will not give up the key port city of Hodeida, the focus of months of U.N.-brokered talks with the resigned regime of former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Committees, accused his rivals from the internationally-recognized government of misinterpreting the deal. He says the Houthis have agreed to withdraw their forces but will remain in control.

He said the Saudi-backed Hadi regime “couldn’t get (the port) by force and they won’t seize it by tricks.”

“We agree on the redeployment according to the presented mechanism, but withdrawal as they are promoting, is impossible,” he said in an interview conducted in undisclosed location in Sana’a, after relocating to avoid airstrikes.

Hodeida is the main entry point for humanitarian aid to Yemen, where nearly four years of war has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The two sides have agreed to withdraw their forces from the port, but are divided over who will run it once they pull out. The U.N.-brokered deal was vague on that point, saying a “local force” would take over without specifying who would lead it.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team