Houthi militia in Yemen ‘storm’ World Food Program warehouse

CAIRO: A Yemeni minister has accused Houthi militants of storming a warehouse used by the World Food Program to store humanitarian aid in Hodeidah.

Abdel-Raqeeb Fateh, the minister of local administration, said on Friday that the Houthis have turned the WFP warehouse in Al-Durayhimi district into a military barracks, AP reported.

Hodeida, Yemen’s largest port, has become the center of the fighting between pro-government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Fateh added that thousands of families were caught in the district’s crossfire between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition forces fighting them.

Fateh said the Houthis are intimidating humanitarian workers and called for a condemnation from the UN.

The Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, is supporting the government troops in the battle to recapture Hodeidah and restore the government.

The Saudi-led coalition accused the Houthis of carrying out a mortar attack on a hospital and fish market in Yemen earlier this month that killed at least 55 people. 

The UN on Friday said it had invited the Yemeni government and the Houthis to peace talks in Geneva on September 6.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said earlier this month he would convene the talks to try and bring an end to the three-year conflict has killed more than 10,000 people.