Yemeni pro-government forces and armored vehicles arrive in al-Durayhimi district, about 9 km south of Hodeidah international airport on June 13, 2018. (AFP photo)
ADEN, Yemen, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), managed Friday to seize control of the main entrance of the sole airport in the country's western coast city of Hodeidah, a military official told Xinhua.
With support and participation of UAE's armed forces, the joint Yemeni government forces seized full control of the main entrance of Hodeidah's International Airport, following fierce confrontations with the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis, the source said.
Heavy aerial bombardment, launched by warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, targeted Houthi-controlled sites around the airport, leading to complete destruction of their fortifications, the source said.
A military spokesman, known as Sadiq Dawid, tweeted that the joint forces are now positioned in the entrance to Hodeidah Airport to ensure the airport is under control.
Sources confirmed to Xinhua that scores of Houthi fighters have retreated from their sites following heavy aerial shelling.
Meanwhile, a ballistic missile, fired by the the Iranian-backed Houthis on government-controlled areas in Hodeidah, was intercepted by the Patriot missile system over the city's airspace.
On Wednesday, Yemen's internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ordered his armed forces to carry out a decisive military action and liberate Hodeidah from the Houthis.
The official Saba News Agency reported that "Hadi ordered the national armed forces to launch a wide-scale military operation to liberate Hodeidah and rescue its population from a humanitarian disaster."
The United Nations has warned that the operation on Hodeidah could kill 250,000 people, but the UAE and its local allies kept advancing and besieged the city from different directions.
The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels since March 2015. More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war that also displaced over 3 million and pushed the impoverished country into the brink of famine.
The anti-Houthi Arab coalition has sent hundreds of troops to the Yemeni western coast in preparation for the advancement into Houthi-held Hodeidah, a long-time key military target declared by the coalition.
Hodeidah is a vital lifeline for the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Houthi-controlled northern provinces, including the country's capital Sanaa.
