Yet More Happenings on Midi Island (Old)
This article is about a week old, but overall the timeline on Midi is very interesting. An earlier post has links to older posts which follow up on the fishing boats that started exploding in May.
The Saudis are blockading the Yemeni coast and bombing Yemeni land. Their allegations through Ashaq Alawsat is that the Houthi rebels are attempting to seize Midi port and that it has been a key strategic goal since the onset of the current round of fighting. This Xinhuanet story is similar except that its Yemen (not Saudi Arabia) who imposed the naval blockade, and Yemeni forces (not Saudi) who bombed the rebels, and it makes no mention of the three dead Saudi soldiers. The WaPo follows the Ashaq al Awsat story but includes the rebels claim that the Saudi troops were crossing into Yemen when attacked. There are very few weapons that are not already available for purchase in Yemen. Weapons markets contain a wide variety of countries of origin.
Jizan, Amman, Asharq al-Awsat as expected is cheerleading for the Saudi side.
– Information made available to Asharq al-Awsat from sources in Sa’dah has indicated that the naval blockade imposed by the Saudi navy on northern Yemen’s Red Sea coasts is tantamount to a lethal blow to many of the infiltrators’ dreams and plans. It indicated that these plans concern the weapons supplied from abroad through the Red Sea in addition to the insurgents’ desire to have a sea outlet during their battles with the Yemeni army.
The sources asserted that the infiltrators fought desperately to seize the Port of “Midi” on Yemen’s north coast which overlooks the Red Sea and chanted slogans like “we will fast Ramadan in Midi” at the start of the war and then came out with another slogan after their failure to achieve their objective saying “Id al-Fitr in Midi” which in turn they failed to achieve. The sources also stressed that the frontline in the fighting with the Yemeni army in Al-Malahiz area which is close to the Saudi-Yemeni border strip included attempts to expand south and seize areas leading to the Port of Midi. The fighting started in northern areas and spread to the south all along the border strip. Official Yemeni leaders had earlier asserted that reaching Midi was an obvious Huthist strategy during the sixth war confrontations. The port is seen as one of the outlets for the smuggling of weapons and supplies to the Huthists.
