Yemen's Red Sea Mills closed again after Houthi shelling

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have again shelled a vital grain storage facility in central Hodeidah, forcing work to temporarily close at the site and jeopardising food aid to thousands of civilians. The UN's World Food Programme said the mills, on the eastern edge of the important port city, were struck on December 26. "The milling of WFP wheat at the Red Sea Mills near Hodeidah has been temporarily halted after they were hit by artillery fire," a spokesman told The National . Col Wathah Al Dubaish of the pro-government Joint Forces said the Houthis had fired the shell from the city. “The rebels targeted the silos of the facility with a mortar shell fired from a Houthi post in the centre of the city," Col Al Dubaish said. The projectile caused partial damage in one of the silos, leading to a full halt in the grinding operations." The attack comes amid tension between the UN agency and the rebels over the distribution of grain. The Houthi rebels want the nearly 60,000 tonnes of grain to be distributed by their committees in Hodeidah, a demand rejected by the agency. “The rebels deliberately pounded the facility, causing damage to some of the silos and to about 5,000 tonnes of wheat,” Col Al Dubaish said. He said the facility had been fully operational, with about 200 people working to process and prepare grain for distribution. In February, the mill's grain storage was closed for several weeks during clashes. The rebels shelled the site, causing damage and preventing aid agencies from reaching the stores to distribute food. Tonnes of grain rotted during the fighting, exacerbating the already dire situation. “The assaults prove that the Houthi militia doesn’t care about the worsening humanitarian situation in the country and puts its interests ahead of the suffering of the Yemeni people,” Col Al Dubaish said. Residents of the port city said that the last Houthi attack on the Red Sea Mills raised fears of food shortages. “Nobody can feel our suffering," one resident said. "We mostly depend on the food aid we receive from the relief organisations and we were waiting for the WFP to distribute the wheat stock stored in the mills facility at the beginning of the new year. “We were shocked to hear that the silos had broken down after the shelling. That means no wheat will be distributed and our situation will get worse and worse.” Locals said the Houthis wanted to take the wheat so they could have “the lion’s share for their followers and sell a part of it on the black market". The UN previously threatened to suspend aid shipments after accusing militias of confiscating and selling aid. Yemen’s Information Minister, Moammar Al Eryani, condemned the attack in a statement on Twitter. Mr Al Eryani said that it came just after UN-mediated talks aboard a ship off the coast of Hodeidah over the situation in the city and stationing joint observers to oversee a ceasefire. “The attack confirms the Houthis' disavowal of their obligations and the continuing ceasefire violations that undermine the efforts to implement the Sweden agreement,” he said. Last December, the government and rebels agreed to a ceasefire in the city. They also agreed that rebels would withdraw and hand over control of the ports to local security. The UN would then have overseen shipments of aid through the port. But a year after the deal was signed, it has still not been fully enforced, although there has been a reduction in fighting. The Houthi militia has increasingly attacked residential areas in the south of the city in recent weeks. "On Saturday, local resident Dawood Mohammed Hasan was killed when a Houthi sniper shot him in front of his home in southern Hodeidah,” a source in Al Amalikah Brigades said.

Yemen's Red Sea Mills closed again after Houthi shelling

Damage to grain storage could jeopardise food aid deliveries to thousands of Yemenis