Yemen army, Houthis exchange accusations of breaching truce

The Yemeni army and the Houthis yesterday accused each other of breaching the truce announced by the UN to cease all military activity in Yemen hours after it came into force.

The Yemeni army said that the Houthi group committed several violations of the two-month humanitarian truce announced by the UN for the second consecutive day.

Yesterday, the Arab coalition’s media centre and the Al-Dhalea axis of the Yemeni army issued a joint statement in which they confirmed that the Houthi group had committed several violations of the ceasefire and bombed Yemeni army sites.

The media centre of the Al-Dhalea axis said that it had recorded about ten violations by the Houthi group since the announcement of the truce, in the form of shooting at army sites, drones bombing army sites in Al-Qishaa, in the Al-Thoukhab sector, north of Al-Dhalea, south of the capital, Sanaa.

READ: Houthis call on Saudi Arabia not to miss truce opportunity

The Saudi-led Arab coalition said that the Houthi group committed several violations of the ceasefire yesterday evening, in the Al-Barah axes, west of Taiz, and the Hays district, south of Hudaydah.

They noted that “the Houthi group fired 14.5-caliber machine guns at military sites in the Hays axis, and in the Al-Barah axis.”

Amer Al-Homaiqani, a spokesman for the Al-Bayda resistance in Marib said that the battles between the Yemeni army and the Houthis are ongoing. “Battles have been ongoing for the past three hours between the National Army and the Houthis on the fronts south of Ma’rib,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added in a separate tweet, “Only Al-Houthi has benefited from the truce until now. He comfortably reinforces the fronts with fighters and ammunition, transports tanks and vehicles from Sanaa to southern Ma’rib in broad daylight, and transports oil products from the port of Hodeidah to Sana’a to sell on the black market.”

The pro-Houthi Saba news agency said, quoting military sources in the group, that “the Yemeni army’s reconnaissance aircraft violated the truce, and targeted one of the group’s forces’ positions in Al-Barh, Taiz with a missile.”

It added, “The Yemeni army forces bombed the positions of the Houthi forces in Al-Hammad, Najran, with a Hauser shell and 4 tank shells.”

On Saturday night, a two-month humanitarian truce took effect in Yemen under the auspices of the UN.

The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, stressed the need to use the truce to resume a political process aimed at ending the conflict.

Grundberg said, on Saturday, in a statement, that “the parties to the conflict have responded positively to a United Nations proposal for a two-month Truce which comes into effect tomorrow 2 April at 1900hrs. The parties accepted to halt all offensive military air, ground and maritime operations inside Yemen and across its borders.”

READ: Yemen’s needs ‘remain enormous, beyond imagination’

He welcomed the positive reactions from all parties to the two-month truce that was reached in Yemen and stressed “the importance of building on the agreement to restore trust between the sides and resume a political process towards ending the conflict.”

Since late March 2015, Yemen has been witnessing a bloody war between the internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Iran-backed Houthi group, which has controlled the capital, Sanaa, and most of the major urban population centres in the north and west of the country, since late September 2014.