SANAA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit the quay of Yemen's Hodeidah harbour on Monday evening, killing three people and damaging the quay, said the Houthis who control the port.
"Targeting the quay would have serious repercussions and would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis," the Houthis said in a statement carried by the group-controlled Saba news agency.
Houthis considered the targeting of the port as a "sign of further military escalation by the coalition," that "challenges the calls by the United States and Britain to halt the war."
Hodeidah is the lifeline and key port of 90 percent of food imports and aid for millions of Yemenis living in the northern cities, which are under Houthi control.
The coalition has been imposing air, sea and land blockade, leaving more then 20 million Yemenis on the verge of starvation.
All airports in the northern cities have been forced to close for more than three years now.
All state basic services, including salaries, electricity, water and health services, have been cut off due to the war.
The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes against rebel targets, but destroyed bridges, schools, hospitals, houses and roads.
The battles for Hodeidah have raged for weeks around the port city, but the fighting now turned into street-to-street battle inside the populated city, which endangers live of thousands of civilians.
British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt met Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on Monday to discuss cease-fire in Yemen, according to Saudi-run Al Arabiya television.
"The humanitarian cost of the war in Yemen is immeasurable: with millions of displaced people, famine, disease and years of bloodshed, the only solution now is a political decision to spare arms and pursue peace," Hunt was cited by the Saudi TV as saying.
However, the coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki assured the battle for taking Hodeidah would continue.
"The offensive to liberate the port city will continue to prevent the rebels from threatening the international navigation in the Red Sea," al-Maliki said in a press conference in Riyadh, aired live by Al Arabiya.
Saudi Arabia is leading the Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
