Houthi rebels announce three-day truce in Yemen and Saudi Arabia

Published on: 03/26/2022 – 21:28 A spokesman for the Houthi rebels in Yemen announced on Saturday a “three-day” truce in the country and in Saudi Arabia. The move follows several attacks on Saudi soil on Friday and a response from the Riyadh-led coalition. Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced on Saturday (March 26) that they would cease their offensives in their country and Saudi Arabia for “three days”, the day after a series of attacks against the neighboring kingdom. The conflict in Yemen opposed for more than seven years the pro-government forces, supported by an international coalition led by Riyadh, and the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran. “The missile and drone strikes as well as all military actions against Saudi Arabia will be suspended for a period of three days,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter, quoting senior rebel official Mahdi al-Mashat. The truce could become “a final and permanent commitment” if Saudi Arabia lift the “blockade” on Yemen, cease its air raids and withdraw its “foreign forces” on Yemeni soil, added Mohammed Abdelsalam. This commitment also offers an end to the Houthis’ offensives on the territory Yemenis, especially around the oil city of Marib, where the battle has raged in recent months. It also includes the exchange of prisoners. A fire near the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix The announcement comes a day after a new series of attacks by the rebels against Saudi Arabia, one of which provoked – without making of victims – a gigantic fire in an oil site in Jeddah, close to the Formula 1 circuit which hosts the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia. In response, the military coalition, which is entering its seventh year of intervention in Yemen, carried out airstrikes overnight from Friday to Saturday in areas held by the rebels, in Sanaa (north) and Hodeidah (west). The Houthis’ announcement also comes at a time when an Iranian nuclear agreement, after several months of talks in Vienna, is about to be concluded, in the “days” to come according to statements on Saturday by the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. In addition to the capture of the capital Sanaa in 2014, the rebels have seized most of the north of the country, the poorest in the Arabian Peninsula and plunged because of the war into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. However, the military coalition controls the country’s air and sea space. While only UN flights are allowed through Sanaa airport, the Houthis have long posed the lifting of this “blockade” as a condition for talks. Several calls for negotiation Earlier Saturday, a Saudi official had indicated told AFP that the rebels were preparing to propose a truce and intra-Yemeni talks.”The Houthis proposed, through mediators, an initiative including a truce, the opening of the airport ) and the port (of Hodeidah) as well as intra-Yemeni discussions”, said this Saudi official close to the file. “We are waiting for an official announcement from them because they are constantly changing their position”, added this official having requested the A Riyadh-based diplomat told AFP, also on condition of anonymity, that the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, had started talks to reach a truce during Ramadan , the Muslim month of fasting q ui takes place this year in April. The Gulf Cooperation Council recently called on the warring parties for peace talks at the end of the month in Riyadh, the organisation’s headquarters, but the rebels have rejected any talks taking place in a country “enemy”. With AFP