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Yemen government, Houthis trade blame for ceasefire breaches

December 18, 2018 at 6:43 pm

Supporters of the Houthis in Yemen on 5 September 2018 [Stinger/AFP/Getty Images]

Yemen’s Aden-based government has accused Houthi rebels of violating a ceasefire that came into force late Monday night in the western Al-Hudaydah province.

Government spokesman Mamoun al-Mehmaji told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that the Houthis had attacked government troop concentrations — with machine-guns and artillery — in Al-Hudaydah’s regional capital.

“If the Houthis continue to violate the ceasefire, we will have no choice but to respond to the source of fire,” al-Mehmaji said.

Houthi-linked media outlets, for their part, blamed government forces for breaching the truce.

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Yemen’s Houthi-linked Al-Masirah television channel reported Tuesday that government forces had carried out an “infiltration operation” in Al-Hudaydah’s southern Haias directorate.

It was not possible for Anadolu Agency to verify either side’s assertions.

A UN-backed ceasefire went into effect midnight Monday in Al-Hudaydah, which is home to several strategic Red Sea ports.

The truce between the warring camps was clinched last week during UN-sponsored peace talks in Stockholm.