http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hanish-idUSKBN0TT0X520151210
World | Thu Dec 10, 2015 4:13am EST Related: WORLD, YEMEN
Arab coalition seizes Yemeni Red Sea islands from Houthis, Saleh
Arab coalition forces have captured a Yemeni Red Sea archipelago used by Iran-allied Houthis for storing and smuggling weapons into Yemen, the Saudi-led alliance and local fishermen said on Thursday.
The Saudi-led coalition has been trying to dislodge the Houthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, from areas captured since September last year and to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
The Houthis control most of the former north Yemen from Taiz in the south to Saada in the north, giving them control of Yemen's Red Sea coast.
The coalition said its forces "cleansed Greater Hanish", the biggest island in the archipelago in the Red Sea's main shipping lanes, Saudi state television said.
The islands, it said, were controlled by Yemeni soldiers loyal to Saleh and used by the Houthis to store weapons and smuggle them into Hodeida, Yemen's main Red Sea port.
Fishermen told Reuters by telephone that the islands had been subjected to weeks of heavy shelling by Arab forces before they were seized.
The archipelago was the subject of a territorial dispute between Yemen and Eritrea, which seized the archipelago in the 1990s, until a London-based international arbitration court granted Yemen sovereignty in 1998.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Louise Ireland)
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/red-sea-island-off-yemen-cleared-of-rebels-1.1635073
Red Sea island off Yemen cleared of rebels
Al Hanish Al Kabir island off the coast of Yemen near the strategic Bab Al Mandab Strait
Published: December 10, 2015
Dubai: Saudi state television is reporting that Saudi-led forces fighting in Yemen have cleared a Red Sea island of Al Houthi rebels.
The report Thursday said forces had seized control of Al Hanish Al Kabir island off the coast of Yemen near the strategic Bab Al Mandab Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The strait is a major route for oil from the Gulf and cargo between Europe and Asia.
The state television report did not elaborate, nor did it show any images of the island.
Yemen’s conflict pits rebels known as Al Houthis and army units loyal to a former president against the internationally recognised government and the Saudi-led and US-backed coalition.
Peace talks in Switzerland are scheduled for next week.
Received on Thu Dec 10 2015 - 07:01:22 EST