Arab coalition’s extension of Yemen cease-fire welcomed
Yemen’s army and allied forces have welcomed the Saudi-led coalition’s announcement of an extension of the truce in Yemen, and called upon the Iran-backed Houthis to stop hostilities on the ground in order to allow Yemeni health care workers to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country. “We welcome the truce by our brothers in the Saudi-led coalition and we announced that we are committed to putting it into effect,” Col. Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni army spokesperson, told Arab News on Friday. “We only respond to provocations. The national army has halted military expanment sion on the battlefields in response to the truce.”
Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi instructed his troops to halt military offensives as soon as the Saudi-led truce was announced earlier this month. However, the Houthis — who have not agreed to the truce — have continued to mount attacks on government forces in Al-Jawf, Marib, Al-Bayadh and other contested areas, according to Yemeni army commanders. Yemen’s Army’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz strongly criticized the Houthi militia for escalating attacks on government and civilian targets.
Despite the UN’s calls for a truce in Yemen, hundreds of governforces and Houthis have been killed. The chief of staff accused Iran of pushing the Houthis to disrupt peace plans. “Iran is destroying Yemen through Houthi militia,” bin Aziz was reported as saying by local media.