Alwaght- Russian Ambassador to Yemen says it is unlikely that Saudi-led coalition be able to occupy the strategic port city of Hudaydah that is controlled by Ansarullah resistance movement forces.
Vladimir Dedushkin told TASS news agency that statements on the upcoming assault on Hudaydah by Saudi-led coalition are just lip service and there is a huge distance between public promises and actions on the ground.
"Sober-minded politicians, both Yemeni and foreign, do not believe in a massive assault on Hudaydah," the ambassador went on to say. "Military experts tend to believe that the Houthis (Ansarullah) can only be fully driven out the city at the cost of its complete destruction."
Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, Emirati forces and their Yemeni mercenaries launched the Hudaydah offensive on June 13 despite international warnings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s humanitarian crisis.
However, according to Russian diplomat, armed-to-the-teeth Saudi-led coalition, that is also supported by the US, has failed to gain any success on their offensive on Hudaydah and clashes are taking place on the city’s fringes, about 15-20 kilometers away from its borders. "The assault would inevitably lead to the destruction of the biggest and only deep-sea Red Sea port, which receives 80% of cargo, including humanitarian, for the majority of the population," he added.
According to the UN, there are about 350,000 refugees in Hudaydah, so the assault on the city would be a humanitarian disaster, the ambassador stressed.
"Turning one of the most beautiful cities of Yemen and the Red Sea into ruins similar to Stalingrad or Raqqa and Mosul would be lunacy," he pointed out. "The press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian representatives to the UN Security Council have stated that on numerous occasions."
"I would like to hope that a step towards a peaceful solution on Hudaydah will be taken at the intra-Yemeni consultations brokered by UN secretary-general’s special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths scheduled to be held in Geneva in September," Dedushkin noted.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a brutal war, code-named Operation Decisive Storm, against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The offensive initially consisted of a bombing campaign, but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen.
The imposed war, however, has so far failed to achieve its goals, thanks to stiff resistance from Yemeni troops and allied Houthi fighters.
Several Western countries have been supplying Saudi Arabia with advanced weapons and military equipment.
Yemen is now suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world due to the Saudi aggression and siege.
