232 civilians killed in Hodeida since Stockholm Agreement

Houthi artillery shells and landmines have killed 232 civilians including 68 children and 29 women in Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeida since Stockholm Agreement, the pro-government Giants Brigades said on Thursday.

In a statement carried by its official website and seen by Arab News, the Giant Brigades said the Iran-backed Houthis escalated military attacks and planting landmines since late 2018, killing 232 and injuring 2311 people in different districts in Hodeida.

The internationally-recognised government and Houthis signed the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement in late 2018 that meant to stop a major military offensive by government forces on the strategic city of Hodeida that hosts the biggest and most important city seaport in Yemen.

Under the agreement, both sides are obliged to halt hostilities by withdrawing forces outside the city in exchange for Houthis hand over key seaports in the province of Hodeida to neutral Yemeni forces under the supervision of the UN.

On Thursday, the Giant Brigades said Houthis committed 16000 breaches to the agreement by heavily shelling residential areas and government forces gatherings in Durihimi, Hays, Khokha, Al Jah and areas on edges of Hodeida.

From December 2018 to December 2019, Houthi incursions and artillery fire had destroyed 446 public and government facilities including farms and houses. Backed by massive military support from the Saudi-led coalition, thousands of Yemeni troops marched towards Hodeida after seizing control of strategic locations in the provinces of Lahj and Taiz including Bab Al Mandab Strait.

The offensive gained momentum when hundreds of troops loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh defected from Houthis after the killing of their leader and began trickling into the west coast battlefield.  When the government forces stormed Hodeida airport in late 2018, the UN brokered a deal that was designed to stop the offensive.

Government say the agreement was largely breached as Houthis intensified attacks on government forces in 2019, cashing in infighting in Aden between the government and Southern Transitional Council.

Formed from the Giant Brigades, Tehama Resistance and the Republic Guard, the Joint Forces have been deployed outside the city of Hodeida and other liberated regions to secure them from Houthi incursions.