Yemenis Return to Hodeidah as UAE Forces Withdraw

UAE says focusing on other fronts

Questions about what was happening in the aid port of Hodeidah seem to be clearing, as the UAE withdraws from the south and leaves the Houthis effectively in control.

Yemenis who had been displaced are slowly returning to Hodeidah now, and the port through which almost all aid enters Yemen seems no longer in immediate threat of being shuttered from fighting.

The UAE downplayed its decision to move out of Hodeidah, instead saying they had decided to focus on other fronts in the war. UAE-backed separatists have become increasingly active in the far south.

The UN has called for new talks on Hoideidah, but if there isn’t any fighting, it seems to just be a fait accompli, with nothing to talk about

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.