UN: Crucial grain silos in Yemen’s Hudaydah come under fire

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says grain silos just outside Yemen’s port city of Hudaydah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, have come under gunfire.

According to reports, Herve Verhoosel, the WFP’s senior spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday that gunfire had hit the Red Sea Mills silos, which contain some 51,000 metric tons of grain — enough to feed 3.7 million people for a month — on Thursday, just days after aid staff gained access to the site.

“It appears that two silos were hit, one of which contains wheat,” he said, noting, “There was no fire.”

The UN agency is still assessing the damage from the attack, Verhoosel said, adding that the WFP was unaware who was behind it.

On Sunday, a WFP team finally gained access to the silos after its inspection was delayed for a month.

Hudaydah has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the four-year Saudi war against the impoverished Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched an offensive on Hudaydah in June 2018 but have faced strong resistance put up by Yemeni armed forces — led by Ansarullah — and the city’s residents.

During peace talks in Sweden last December, representatives from the Ansarullah movement and the Riyadh-sponsored former regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi agreed to cease fighting in Hudaydah.

After the deal was struck, the WFP managed to access the mills in February for the first time since September 2018, when the heavy fighting made them inaccessible.

The Ansarullah have, however, reported numerous truce violations by the Saudi-backed side.

SS