UN fears disastrous impact of attack on Yemen’s Hudaydah port

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Bin Ra’ad Al-Hussein, yesterday expressed deep concern over attacks by the Saudi-led coalition on the Yemeni city of Hudaydah.

During a speech at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council Al-Hussein said that he feared the attack will affect a large number of civilians and lead to numerous victims.

Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition began last Wednesday a military operation to take control of the Rea Sea port town of Hudaydah.

According to medical sources, 140 people including 118 Houthis and 21 Yemeni soldiers have been killed as a result of the fighting.

Read: UAE ‘forced’ Yemeni president to back Hudaydah operation

The port of Hudaydah, which is home to about 600,000 people, is the main gateway for aid supplies arriving in the war ravaged country however the coalition sees it as a base for Houthis attacks against ships in the Red Sea and for weapons smuggling.

Last week Human Rights Watch called warring parties to create corridors of safe passage for civilians trapped in the city and to facilitate the flow of aid and commercial supplies.