Yemen’s humanitarian truce barely holds as violence resumes

A Yemeni man walks with his camel at a market in the southwestern the city of Taez Wednesday. Yemen’s humanitarian cease-fire came under significant strain in its first 24 hours. (Abdel Rahman Abdallah/AFP/Getty Images)

By Ahmed al-Haj May 13

SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s humanitarian cease-fire came under significant strain in its first 24 hours Wednesday, disrupted by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike, fighting in a strategic province and shelling by coalition warships west of the port city of Aden.

The airstrike in the southern province of Abyan was in response to an attempt by the Shiite rebels — known as Houthis and widely believed to be backed by Iran — to reinforce their forces in Aden, according to Yemeni security officials. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the airstrike.

The heaviest violence on the ground was in the southwestern province of Taiz, where the rebels and their allies — forces working with ousted president Ali ­Abdullah Saleh — have for weeks been fighting forces loyal to the nation’s internationally recognized president.

Yemeni officials said the Houthis shelled residential areas in Taiz, a claim supported by an Amnesty International report.

Also in the south, officials and witnesses said coalition warships deployed off Aden shelled rebel forces that attempted to seize an area west of the city that is home to fuel tanks.

Fighting also flared elsewhere when rebels sought to storm the city of Dhale just north of Aden, firing tank shells, rockets and mortar rounds against ­positions belonging to forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, according to the officials and witnesses.

Saudi Arabia and its coalition of mainly Sunni Arab countries began the air campaign on March 26 to try to break the advance of the Houthis and their allies, who overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen late last year and have been on the offensive in the south. The Saudis and their allies are seeking the restoration of the Western-backed Hadi, who fled the country in March.

Adding a new layer to the Yemeni crisis, a senior Iranian military official warned the U.S.-backed coalition against blocking a Yemen-bound Iranian aid ship. Iranian Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri warned that actions against the aid ship would not be tolerated.

“The self-restraint of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not limitless,” Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff, told Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam state TV. “Both Saudi Arabia and its novice rulers, as well as the Americans and others, should be mindful that if they cause trouble for the Islamic Republic with regard to sending humanitarian aid to regional countries, it will spark a fire, the putting out of which would definitely be out of their hands.”

Iran says the ship, which departed on Monday, is carrying food, medicine, tents and blankets, as well as reporters, rescue workers and peace activists. It is expected to arrive in the rebel-held port of Hodeida next week — likely after the five-day cease-fire expires.

Iran’s navy said Tuesday that it will protect the ship, and on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Iran would not permit any country involved in the Yemen war to inspect its cargo.

— Associated Press