A bomb laden F-15S taking off for a mission in Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition continues to target the Houthis (Ansar Allah) on the western coast of Yemen despite withdrawing its proxies from the province of al-Hudaydah in November.
On December 10, the coalition announced that its warplanes had carried out five airstrikes on Houthi forces on the western coast. According to the coalition, the airstrikes targeted areas not included in the UN-brokered 2018 ceasefire agreement.
The coalition’s airstrikes claimed the lives of 25 fighters of the Houthis and destroyed several military vehicles of the group.
“We support the operations of Yemeni forces on the western coast outside the Stockholm [Ceasefire] Agreement provisions,” the coalition said in a statement shared by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Houthis took over much of al-Hudaydah and its coastline following the abrupt withdrawal of Saudi-backed forces earlier in mid-November.
Now, Saudi-backed forces are struggling to keep the Houthis away from the coastline of the southwestern province of Taiz.
The coalition claims that the decision to withdraw from al-Hudaydah was the result of the Houthis’ repeated violations of the ceasefire there and the group’s control over several Red Sea ports, including that of al-Hudaydah. The real motive was, however, the coalition’s desire to reinforce the central province of Ma’rib, where the Houthis made significant gains recently.