Houthis accept Saudi Arabia’s proposal for five-day truce in Yemen

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Followers of the Houthi movement attend a gathering to show support to the movement outside the Presidential Palace in Sanaa February 4, 2015. The banner reads: ''Allah is the greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam''.
Followers of the Houthi movement attend a gathering to show support to the movement outside the Presidential Palace in Sanaa February 4, 2015. The banner reads: ”Allah is the greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam”.
Iranian-allied Houthi fighters in Yemen accepted on Sunday a five-day humanitarian ceasefire proposed by their adversary Saudi Arabia but said they would respond to any violations.

Neighboring Saudi Arabia had said on Friday that the ceasefire could begin on Tuesday if the Houthi militia agreed to the pause, which would let in badly needed food and medical supplies.

Backed by the United States, a Saudi-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against the Houthis and army units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26 with the aim of restoring the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Colonel Sharaf Luqman, spokesperson for the Houthi-allied army, said on Sunday that Yemeni forces agreed to the truce but would confront any attacks by Hadi loyalists on battlefronts which stretch across much of the impoverished country.

The Houthis say their campaign is aimed at defeating al Qaeda militants based in Yemen and accuse Hadi’s forces of supporting the group.

“Any military violation of the ceasefire from al Qaeda and those who stand with it … will be responded to,” Luqman said in a statement published by Saba news agency.

Arab air strikes and heavy shelling on Sunday rocked the southern city of Aden, the epicenter of fighting for more than six weeks, and southern fighters questioned the proposed pause.

“We doubt that the Houthis would stick to a ceasefire or truce because they have repeatedly broken political commitments they have made in the past,” a pro-Hadi militiaman in the city told Reuters.

TRAPPED

The Houthis’ acceptance of a truce came as Saudi ground forces conducted air strikes, fired artillery and launched at least two dozen rockets on Saada province, a Houthi stronghold along its southern border.

Riyadh has called on civilians to evacuate the province, in a move that has drawn criticism from the United Nations.

“The indiscriminate bombing of populated areas, with or without prior warning, is in contravention of international humanitarian law,” the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Johannes van der Klaauw said in a statement.

“Many civilians are effectively trapped in Saada as they are unable to access transport because of the fuel shortage. The targeting of an entire governorate will put countless civilians at risk.”

International concern about the humanitarian situation has grown as the strikes have killed more than 1,300 people, sent locals fleeing from their homes and destroyed infrastructure, leading to shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Iranian news agency Tasnim said an aid ship would set sail for the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodaida on Sunday, in a move that will likely be blocked by the Saudi-led coalition.

Iran denies arming the Houthis, but the Sunni Muslim monarchies leading the campaign believe Tehran is using the Shi’ite Houthis to gain a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula and have blocked previous aid flights.

Residents in the capital Sanaa reported that Arab planes bombed for a second day in a row the vast compound which is home to ex-president Saleh, a key player in Yemen’s political crisis whose loyalists in the army fight on the Houthis’ side.

In a sign that the wily political operator was unscathed, Saleh blasted the Saudi-led campaign on his official Twitter account on Sunday.

“Look for a solution to exit from your quagmire of killing and destroying the Yemeni people. Stop drinking Yemeni blood and let us solve our differences,” he wrote.

Saleh and the Houthis have asked for a U.N.-backed political dialogue, but their opponents say they have yet to make any concessions and have called for them to end their military push on Aden and Yemen’s south.

REUTERS

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15 responses to “Houthis accept Saudi Arabia’s proposal for five-day truce in Yemen”

  1. man-o-war Avatar
    man-o-war

    “Saudi ground forces conducted air strikes”?????

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Mixed (Combined) Services. 😉

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Probably a sane idea. Talk. And Poetry if necessary … (my god)
    “Look for a solution to exit from your quagmire of killing and destroying the Yemeni people. Stop drinking Yemeni blood and let us solve our differences,”

  3. royal kingdom greater syria Avatar
    royal kingdom greater syria

    Saudi Arabia must be defeated.

    1. nagy_michael2 Avatar
      nagy_michael2

      Iran been stirring trouble for over 7 years in Yemen and wherever they go they want to conquer and divide just like your master Assad. I am not a fan of the Saudi’s but Iran want to knock them down what do you really expect them to do?
      But did you say that when your Assad’s bombing the living hell out of Lebanon and the last few years of the Syrian populations instead of Daesh? or you were you too busy killing your fellow arabs in the name of the greater Syria? you guys are following a pipe dream of greater Syria. you are following Assad to capture more lands but even if he was to do it you are following a man and your ideology means nothing to him. you are the killers of Lebanon in the name of Greater Syria. I was in Lebanon and even the SSNP were divided and you and Assad Harden are nothing but hired assassins who are looking merely for attention and power.
      you are being used by Hezbollah and you loved it.. enough said.

      1. royal kingdom greater syria Avatar
        royal kingdom greater syria

        No, we want to see Hez. help defeat the vicious and evil kingdom of Saudi Arabia and for Hez. to help bring home to Lebanon Saudi oil revenues. Assad and Iran and even the rebels in Syria should join in this battle against the Saudis.

        1. MekensehParty Avatar
          MekensehParty

          I’ll join too, just give me a minute to put some shoes on…

          1. Andari Avatar

            Sounds like a drug trip in the woods to me 😉

          2. nagy_michael2 Avatar
            nagy_michael2

            got Sandals? that’s what the Syrian Soldiers were wearing during the war…lol

          3. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            Ask Hanibal, he must still have at least a dozen

          4. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Can they wear pigskin ??

        2. nagy_michael2 Avatar
          nagy_michael2

          And did you join Assad against Lebanese in the past? of course you have.. SSNP well known to do Syria’s bidding all in the name of Greater Syria.
          I wish they all go away how about that? Everytime we start one damned evil we have another one created. Al Qaeda maybe supported but many gulf supporters and even some gov’t ministers but in the end it was Iran who harbored them and Syria as well and trained them and opened up the road for them to Iraq and Lebanon and then Syria. Assad wanted Al Qaeda and daesh in his country so he can show how bad they are more than him. Who let Al Qaeda infiltrate from Syria to Iraq? why so many of them were living in Iran as guests? how could that be possible? I would not be even surprised if Iran were indirectly involved in the planning of 9/11. I am sure some Saudi officials were involved as well. All the crap to my disbeliefs covered by the American intelligence which is amazing and crazy. Saudi at least for now helping rebuild the LAF instead of Iran bolstering Hezbollah only. we need a gov’t in place not tribes and war mongers and monsters running the lifeline of Lebanon. They are all evils in the end and we are as Lebanese responsible for our demise. we let them in and we enjoy backstabbing each other for some unpatriotic and treacherous reasons and their dumb ass ideologies and selfishness.

          1. royal kingdom greater syria Avatar
            royal kingdom greater syria

            Everything has changed with the new war against Saudi Arabia. We call on Hez. to go and help defeat Saudi Arabia and bring home to Lebanon Saudi oil revenues.

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            lololololol ….

        3. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          If anyone in Lebanon had helped Lebanon (or wanted to help Lebanon) develop it’s oil/gas business back when Israel and Cyprus were exploring, with hired help, 10 or 15 years ago, you might even be able to turn on a light bulb by now, and thus be able to see where to apply a bandage when stubbing toes sticking out of sandals.
          But for some unfathomable reason, it takes two years and total darkness everywhere, except in ‘Babble-Da-Palace’, to decide to HIRE a floating Power Platform from Turkey, and then feed it bad oil to kill it’s ability to actually generate, while not paying the Electric Company bills to pay the workers who know how to string wire up, instead of stealing it.
          Put Some WOMEN In Charge. Might become a country at some point.

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