Saudi-led coalition enters Yemen's Hodeida airport

Forces from an Arab alliance have"freed" the airport in Yemen's main port city of Hodeida, themedia office of the Yemeni military allied with the Saudi-ledcoalition said.

"Army forces backed by the resistance and the Arab alliancefreed Hodeidainternational airport from the grip of the Houthimilitia," the media office said on Twitter on Saturday.

It said technical teams were now de-mining the area.

Victory for the Saudi-led alliance in their first attempt tocapture a strategic part of a well-defended city could put the Shia Houthis in their weakest position in the three-year conflict,since Hodeidais the group's sole Red Sea port.

A defeat could also cut off supply lines to theHouthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and possibly force them tonegotiate as the world's biggest humanitarian disaster ravagesYemen.

The port serves as the entry point for 70 per cent of the impoverished country's imports as it teeters on the brink of famine.

The offensive inHodeidacould trigger famine imperillingmillions of lives, the UNhas warned. Around 22 million peoplein Yemen depend on the humanitarian aid efforts, with 8.4million at risk of starvation.

Samy Mansour, head of the emergency room at Al-ThawraHospital, received two dead and 12 wounded because of fighting in the region.

"We're still treating people on the scene and transportingthem to the hospital," he said.

Houthis rule the most populous areas of Yemen, a poor nationof about 30 million people that had been destabilized byinternal splits and al-Qaeda before the war erupted.

The war pits the resilient Houthis, highly experienced inmountain warfare, against the Saudi-led coalition with itssuperior weaponry, including fighter planes.