Saudi Arabia announces 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen

Rebels early Saturday attacked pro-government forces in the Temeni province of Jawf near the Saudi border, pro-Houthi broadcaster al-Masirah reported.

John Kerry, the Secretary of State, announced a truce would come into effect on Thursday following an agreement by Houthi rebels and Saudi-led air coalition.

“We have our own reasons to refuse it because it doesn’t commit to the worldwide agreement and gives a lot of power to the Houthis, more than what the Yemeni people accept. Houthis are a minority in the country”.

The Soviet-era Tochka missile was sacked into the eastern desert province of Marib, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri told Saudi-owned al-Hadath TV.

The coalition said that an the air and sea blockade it has enforced on rebel-held areas throughout its intervention would remain in place during the ceasefire.

The United Nations says more than 7,000 people have been killed and almost 37,000 wounded in Yemen since the Arab coalition began its military campaign previous year. Attempts by the United Nations to convince the warring parties to commit to a cease-fire and resume peace talks have so far failed.

The fighting broke out as loyalists launched an attack on three fronts to recapture the coastal town of Midi and nearby Haradh, the officials said.

The US chief diplomat had said after meeting with Houthi negotiators in Oman that they were ready to observe the ceasefire plan.

No comments were reported from pro-Houthi authorities in Sanaa regarding their position about the ceasefire.

A spokesman for forces allied to the Iran-backed rebels, Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, confirmed that they would also abide by the ceasefire.

But the internationally recognised Yemeni government, led by exiled president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, rejected the move, complaining that it had been being bypassed.

“The ceasefire announced in Yemen offers new hope in a situation that is increasingly catastrophic for children”, UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement.

A truce aimed at ending more than a year of war in Yemen began on Saturday, although residents said fighting was still going on in parts of the country.

Ceasefires have been declared before in Yemen, but each time conflict has resumed. Millions more are in desperate need of aid.

“Sadly, one of our colleagues who works as a watchman at the MSF trauma center in Taiz was killed whilst he was off duty when a blast hit a local market in the neighborhood”, said Djoen Besselink, MSF’s Head of Mission in Yemen.

The rebels still control Sanaa and most of the northern and central highlands.

In October, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said Saudi Arabia was using starvation as a tactic in its war against Yemen through its crippling blockade which the U.S. helps to implement.