ADEN, Yemen, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-backed Yemeni government on Friday called on the international community to take a firm stance against repeated attacks from the Houthi rebels on the Red Sea mills in Hodeidah city, state-run Saba News Agency reported.
"Houthi shelling on the Red Sea mills in Hodeidah is considered a terrorist crime that violated all humanitarian laws and principles," said Abdul-Raqeeb Fatih, Yemen's local administration minister, in a statement.
"This crime committed by the Houthis requires an urgent intervention from the international community to confront such repeated terrorist attacks against the relief operations in Yemen," added Fatih, who also chairs Yemen's High Relief Committee.
The Yemeni minister pointed out that the Houthi fighters launched random attacks against the Red Sea mills more than five times during the past three months.
On Thursday, Houthi fighters renewed their shelling against the Red Sea mills in the war-torn port city of Hodeidah, causing damage to the grain facility, according to Waddah Dubaish, spokesman of the joint pro-government forces.
The spokesman said the Houthi shelling came when several millers were working for the re-operation of the grain facility under the supervision of the World Food Program (WFP).
The Red Sea mills belong to Yemen's private sector and hold 51,000 metric tons of grain, which is enough to feed more than 3.7 million people for a month.
The WFP also has a number of warehouses used for storing large amounts of grains at the same Red Sea mills facility in Hodeidah.
The Iran-allied Houthi rebels control the city while the Saudi-backed government troops have advanced to its southeastern outskirts.
Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry point for Yemen's most food imports and humanitarian aid. The four-year grinding war has pushed over 20 million people to the verge of starvation.
Yemeni warring parties reached a peace deal on Hodeidah in December last year as the first step toward a comprehensive political solution.
Sporadic breaches, however, are daily recorded in Hodeidah as the two sides failed to withdraw their forces in accordance with the agreement reached in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
