• US defense chief backs Saudi decision to halt Yemen refueling
• Washington Post’s publication of Houthi leader’s column shocks Yemenis

Hodeida — Yemeni government forces pushed further into the strategic port city of Hodeida taking control of its main hospital in heavy fighting on Saturday.

Yemeni officials said pro-government forces had captured the May 22 Hospital, which lies in the east of the rebel-held city, a key aid conduit.

Backed by Coalition, loyalist troops for the first time entered residential neighborhoods of Hodeida on Thursday, using bulldozers to remove concrete road blocks installed by the rebels.

In Washington, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that the United States supports Saudi Arabia’s decision to cease American aerial refueling for aircraft from the Riyadh-led coalition involved in the Yemen war.

“We support the decision by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after consultations with the US government, to use the Coalition’s own military capabilities to conduct inflight refueling in support of its operations in Yemen,” Mattis said in a statement.

Saudi Press Agency had earlier said the Coalition had asked for the “cessation of inflight refueling support” from the United States.

“Recently the Kingdom and the coalition has increased its capability to independently conduct inflight refueling in Yemen,” it said.

The Kingdom has 23 planes for refuelling operations devoted to Yemen operations, while the UAE has six.

Meanwhile, Yemenis voiced anger over an article by Mohammed Ali Al-Houth, the head of what’s called the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of the Houthi militias, published by The Washington Post on Friday, a move considered an editorial drop for the newspaper, especially that the Houthi top leader is described as a “war criminal.”

Yemeni human rights activist and journalist Hamdan Alaly said the article penned by Mohammed Al-Houthi was particularly shocking for the Yemenis, especially for journalists, who suffer injustice and violations practiced against them by the Houthi militias.

He said that Mohammed Al-Houthi is one of the top figures of the Houthis and the second in rank in the pro-Iranian militias who is implicated in issuing directives for killing more than 26 Yemeni journalists, while there are 16 journalists till this day in detention centers.

The Yemeni Foreign Ministry considered Washington Post’s move to publish the article by Mohammed Al-Houthi as a shame, describing the writer as a “war criminal”.

Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs Khaled Al-Yamani said in a tweet: “Who would have imagined that a war criminal such as Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi would fabricate a language of peace in the Washington Post?, Iran’s agents have begun to find their way to the American press.”

He added: “What a shame! — Agencies