Yemen in war mode as Al Houthis scupper truce
IRAN-BACKED MILITIA ‘PROVES ITS UNWILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT PEACE’
The Yemeni government has blamed Al Houthis for the collapse of the latest truce initiated by the UN and the resumption of fighting on all fronts.
Abdul Rageb Fateh, minister of local administration, told
Gulf News from Aden that the internationally-recognised government has alerted the UN Secretary-General, the UN envoy to Yemen and international human right bodies about hundreds of violations committed by the rebel movement during the 72-hour truce. “We have documented more than 500 violations by Al Houthis during the truce in Taiz, Marib and other places. During the truce, Al Houthis fired ballistic missiles at Saudi cities and Marib. Ministers of human rights and legal affairs have notified the UN Secretary-General and other international organisations about these breaches.”
Yesterday, fighter jets from a Saudi-led Arab coalition attacked Al Houthi military targets in Sana’a at dawn, hours after the three-day truce in Yemen’s war expired, residents said.
The ceasefire, agreed in order to allow an increased flow of humanitarian aid, ended without renewal after a day of heavy fighting between the Saudi-led Arab alliance and the Iran-allied Al Houthi movement.
“Al Houthi militia deliberately thwarted the truce and that further convinced our military and political leadership of their unwillingness to accept peace,” the government’s army chief of staff Mohammad Ali Al Miqdashi said on Saturday.
Saudi-led Arab coalition fighter jets carried out several air sorties, hitting military sites in Al Houthi-held Sana’a shortly after a 72-hour truce came to end and heavy clashes raged on various fronts across the country.
Residents in Sana’a said yesterday that heavy explosions rocked the city in the morning after the jets struck Al Nahden mountain, a suspected arms depot, Al Hafa military camp and other military locations controlled by Al Houthis.
A UN-proposed ceasefire meant to give a brief respite from the fighting to open up humanitarian corridors for vital aid to reach war-torn cities was put into place at midnight Wednesday.
The truce remained largely holding despite reports about heavy clashes between the government forces and Al Houthis on several fronts.
Major General Ahmad Assiri, the coalition spokesman, said on Friday “there is no ceasefire at all” because of repeated militia breaches.
“This is the same situation as the previous time when we called for a ceasefire,” Assiri said.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister also accused Al Houthis of stepping up their attacks during the ceasefire.
“As of this morning Washington time there had been more than 150 violations by the Al Houthi-Saleh side,” Adel Al Jubeir said during a meeting on Friday in Washington.
Saudi Arabia and Washington accuse Iran of arming the Al Houthi insurgents.
Five previous truce attempts failed but cautious optimism preceded the current pause after intensified international pressure following an escalation in fighting.
Nearly 6,900 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians, while another three million are displaced and millions more need food aid
Unicef team banned
Meanwhile, army commanders loyal to president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, said yesterday that their fighters fought off fresh assaults by Iranbacked Al Houthis on their positions in Taiz, Bayhan, Serwah and in some battlefields in the northern province of Jawf.
Yemen’s government on Saturday night condemned Al Houthi’s banning of Unicef’s Yemen delegation from entering the city of Taiz to assess humanitarian situation.
Abdul Malik Al Mikhalfi, foreign minister, said on Twitter that the move contradicts Al Houthis allegations that they do not impose a siege on Yemen’s third largest city.
Local authorities in the city said that the Unicef delegation, led by Julien Harneis, the UN body’s representative in Yemen, drove on “rough and rugged” roads to reach the city before Al Houthis blocked them from entering the city.
Return to base
Ahmad Bin Daghar, prime minister, and some cabinet ministers returned to the city of Aden, the government’s temporary base, after visiting provinces of Hadramout and the remote island of Socotra.
Bin Daghar said his government would work on addressing long power cuts in Aden and the spread of cholera in the city.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Aden, local security authorities said on Saturday that as many as 200 illegal African immigrants to were sent back home on ships. The African immigrants, mainly Ethiopians, were among thousands of refugees who sailed to Yemen despite the raging conflict.
The internationally-recognised government said that the Africans are vulnerable to radicalisation by Al Qaida or can be wooed into joining the depleted Al Houthi movement.
Aden police said in a statement that more 1,000 migrants have been deported since early this year and thousands others have been detained and would be deported in groups.