Saudi warplanes launched yet another airstrike on Yemen’s western coastal city of Hodeidah on 14 November, reportedly killing at least three civilians and wounding seven others.

The attack comes just days after the Yemeni Armed Forces took control of the strategic port city and the road that links it to the capital Sanaa. Their takeover came after Saudi-led coalition troops abandoned the town allegedly as part of a new UN-sponsored deal.

According to military sources and local residents, Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched airstrikes on the Al Faza area, located in the south of Hodeidah, as Ansarallah fighters battled UAE-backed forces until midnight.

This latest attack is just the latest violation of the 2018 Stockholm Agreement between the belligerent sides in Yemen.

The Saudi-backed parallel government and the Yemeni Armed Forces, who now control the city of Hodeidah, had agreed in 2018 to a United Nations-sponsored deal for a truce in Hodeidah.

The deal called for a troop withdrawal by both sides, but has been stalled since 2019.

In an interview with France 24 TV on 13 November, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister reiterated that the Saudi-led coalition forces will not withdraw, saying: “there continues to be strong support for the government of Yemen and (coalition) forces.”

The Ansarallah movement has explicitly stated that they expected the Stockholm Agreement to lead to peace, but instead, Saudi Arabia has continued to violate the UN-backed pact, killing and injuring thousands of Yemeni civilians since.

But despite the renewed violence, the Yemeni Armed Forces have continued moving forward in the oil-rich Marib province, as they are reportedly four kilometers away from the south of the capital city.

Al-Mayadeen quoted local sources as saying that Ansarallah troops  “are stationed about three to four kilometers away from the Al-Falaj checkpoint, the southern entrance to the capital of Marib province.”

According to Muhammad Elwan, deputy Governor of Marib, the Yemeni tribes in the city decided to join the liberation operation of the remaining territories in Marib under the control of militants loyal to the Saudi-led coalition.

He added that the upcoming days will witness “big surprises.”