Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition advanced toward Yemen’s main port on Thursday, despite resistance from Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control the city and pleas by the United Nations to halt the battle and resume a political dialogue.
As the fighting intensified around the Red Sea port, the U.S. rejected an appeal from the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the operation, for drone surveillance, minesweepers and more intelligence to help them carry out the operation, one official with the Gulf nation said Thursday.
Faced with an immediate military need to clear the port waters of mines laid by Houthi forces, the U.A.E. turned to France for help. And France agreed to send minesweepers to help them with the operation, the official said. The French Embassy in the U.S. said it wasn’t able to confirm that late Thursday.
Capturing Hodeidah could mark a turning point in the three-year conflict, which pits Houthi rebels against a U.S.-backed Arab coalition that is fighting to help Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi regain control over the entire country.
Hodeidah is home to Yemen’s main port, through which the vast majority of Yemen’s foreign aid and food flows. The operation to recapture Hodeidah is aimed at depriving the Houthis of their main economic lifeline in the hope this will end the stalemate and pressure the rebels to agree to a political solution.
“If they keep Hodeidah and its revenues and its strategic location, the war will last a long time and the suffering of the Yemeni people will continue,” U.A.E. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said Thursday. “The deadlock must end.”
No fighting has yet occurred within the city of Hodeidah itself, where jets were seen flying overhead on Thursday.
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Top Trump administration officials had previously expressed concern about such an operation, but in recent days the administration has given cautious backing to efforts to seize the port and called for ensuring that humanitarian aid keeps flowing to Yemen.
In the second day of fighting, the coalition pounded rebel positions with airstrikes outside Hodeidah as allied Yemeni troops on the ground drew closer to the city from the south. Their movement was being bogged down by mined roads and Houthi resistance, according to residents, aid groups and a person close to the coalition.
Instead of overwhelming the city, the person close to the coalition said the focus of the offensive was to ratchet up pressure on the Houthis in hopes of getting Houthi fighters to evacuate the city while keeping the port—a critical gateway for aid and food—in operation.
Pushing up Yemen’s western coastline from the south, the main coalition force has made some progress, nearing strategic locations like the airport, even as Houthi fighters pushed back, triggering scattered battles.
Arab warplanes carried out heavy bombardments along the coast and on roads in districts south of the city. The coalition is using airstrikes and special-operations forces to cut off Houthi resupply lines north and east of the city, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi on Thursday called on supporters to join the fight for Hodeidah.
“All of us are responsible to move to the coasts during Eid,” he said in televised remarks, referring to the Islamic holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and that this year falls on Friday.
Despite the fighting, U.N. officials were still hoping to reach a last-minute deal between the warring parties to stop a full-scale assault of Hodeidah and its port. After an emergency meeting on Yemen, the U.N. Security Council on Thursday called for the port of Hodeidah to remain open to allow humanitarian aid and reiterated its support for a political solution to the conflict.
The port has so far remained open. There were five ships unloading at Hodediah‘s port on Thursday, three carrying fuel and two food, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which works in the city. Three more were preparing to unload, it added.
But aid groups warn the port is unlikely to fully operate if the fighting reaches the city, which has a population of at least 400,000.
“It’s a city with a large number of residents who are not to blame for this war and now find themselves at the front line,” says Frank McManus, the Yemen country director at the International Rescue Committee, which has a presence in Hodeidah. “Both sides of the conflict have a responsibility to ensure these people are protected.”
Cutting off the port could touch off a full-blown famine in a country already reeling from the world’s worst cholera epidemic. As much as 80% of Yemen’s overall imports have historically reached the country through the port, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. A U.N. official recently warned that 250,000 people could die if the operation drags on.
To avert a humanitarian crisis, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. on Wednesday said they would accelerate the delivery of food, medicine and other essential supplies to Yemen and that trade through Hodeidah’s port will be allowed to continue.
“There is no water, no electricity and not enough food”, said Mohammed Hazazi, a resident of Hodeidah. “Only God can protect the innocent, peaceful people of Hodeidah.”
—Saleh al-Batati and Mohammed al-Kibsi contributed to this article.
Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com, Asa Fitch at asa.fitch@wsj.com and Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com