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AFP
ADEN
SAUDI-BACKED government forces in Yemen launched a series of attacks on rebel-held Hodeidah, military officials said on Tuesday, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis as an 11-week pause in the battle for the port city ended.
The Houthi rebels accused the government and its Saudi-led allies of deliberately targeting food warehouses on Monday night, as the coalition said it had resumed a"military operation to liberate Hodeidah and its port".
The fight for Hodeidah, which the Houthis seized in 2014, had been put on hold for 11 weeks as the United Nations struggled to bring warring parties to peace talks in Geneva.
But the talks collapsed earlier this month after the northern Yemeni rebels failed to turn up in Geneva.
The Red Sea port of Hodeidah is a vital lifeline for aid shipments to Yemen, the most impoverished country in the Arab world.
The United Nations has warned that any major fighting could halt food distributions to eight million Yemenis dependent on them for survival.
Brigadier General Ali al-Taniji, commander of coalition forces on Yemen's west coast, confirmed the alliance had launched an operation in Hodeidah, in a statement to state media in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia's main partner in the coalition.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior coalition official told AFP the operation was being fought on multiple fronts.
Residents in and around the city, home to a population of 600,000, reported hearing explosions throughout Monday night.
The Houthis accused the coalition of targeting food supply warehouses in the raids, charging the international community was complicit in the attacks.
"International food supply warehouses were targeted in Hodeidah, a clear sign that there is a plan... to make warehouses and densely populated neighbourhoods legitimate targets of their terrorist operations," said the head of the rebels' Supreme Revolutionary Council, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi.
"International tolerance of terrorism has only encouraged (the coalition) to plan and deliberately commit crimes," Houthi said.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not respond to a request for comment, while a World Food Programme spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the UN agency's facilities had been hit.
Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Houthi rebels of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeidah and has imposed a partial blockade on the port. The Houthis and Iran both deny the charges.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths left the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday, ending a three-day trip.
Griffiths is pushing for new peace talks after proposed negotiations between the Houthis and government fell apart in Geneva earlier this month when rebel delegates failed to show up, say they had not received guarantees for their safe return home afterwards.
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19/09/2018
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