Hodeida [key], city, W Yemen, on the Red Sea. An important port, it exported coffee, cotton, dates, and hides prior to Yemen's civil war in the late 2010s. It was developed as a seaport in the mid-19th cent. by the Turks. After a disastrous fire in Jan., 1961, destroyed much of the city, it was rebuilt, particularly the port facilities, with Soviet aid. A highway from Hodeida to Sana, the capital, was completed in 1961. Hodeida was the site of a Soviet naval base in the 1970s and 80s. During the civil war the port was an essential conduit for supplies to Houthi forces (which led to a blockade) and relief supplies, and Saudi-led forces began an assault on the city in 2018; the fighting decreased after a Dec., 2018 cease-fire agreement.
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