Saudi Arabia flew air strikes against Houthi-held military sites around Hodeidah, the Yemeni Red Sea port city, on 24 July1. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the targets were sites used to threaten commercial shipping, that Hodeidah port itself was not hit, and that "Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Salif remain open to navigation"2. Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah said the strikes hit telecommunications facilities and Kamaran Island, with a woman injured; the Coalition disputes those specifics3.
Riyadh spent years bombing Yemen and then largely stopped, and these raids follow the missile strike the Houthis claimed against the Saudi tanker Layla two days earlier. Hodeidah is the entry point for most of the food and fuel reaching Yemen's north, where the population depends on imports for the great majority of its calories. Bombing near it without hitting it is a distinction al-Maliki went out of his way to draw.
That distinction has a history. Coalition strikes on Hodeidah's cranes and berths in earlier phases of the Yemen war drew censure from UN agencies and slowed aid throughput for months afterwards. Naming Ras Issa and Salif alongside Hodeidah tells insurers, charterers and the World Food Programme that the corridor is meant to keep functioning, which is a commitment the Coalition can be held to if the next round goes closer.
The two accounts of what was struck cannot both be right, and neither side has published imagery. A woman injured is the only human cost either party has put on the record from these strikes.
