A Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government against Iran-backed rebels declared a 48-hour ceasefire to begin in Yemen Saturday, it said in a statement on the kingdom’s SPA news agency website.
\n\u201cIt has been decided to begin a 48-hour ceasefire from 12:00 noon in Yemen’s timing on Saturday,\u201d the coalition statement said, adding that the truce could be renewed if the Houthi rebels and their allies abide by the deal and allow aid deliveries to besieged cities.
\nThe coalition announcement followed a request for a ceasefire by Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi \u2500 himself based in Riyadh \u2500 to Saudi King Salman, the statement said.
\n\u201cCoalition forces will abide by the ceasefire,\u201d it said, but warned that should the rebels or troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh make any military moves in the area the coalition would respond.
\nThe naval and air \u201cblockade\u201d will also remain in place and surveillance jets will continue to fly over Yemen, it added.
\nThe coalition has been militarily supporting forces loyal to Hadi’s government since March 2015.
\nThere was no word yet from the rebels on whether they would abide by the new truce.
\nUS Secretary of State John Kerry had announced a ceasefire that was to have taken effect on Thursday, but there was intense fighting Friday, eliminating hopes of warring parties abiding by the truce.
\nThe US chief diplomat had said after meeting with Houthi negotiators in Oman that they were ready to observe the ceasefire plan, but Hadi’s government said it was not aware of any new peace initiative.
\nSince Thursday, more than 50 people have been killed in clashes between the rebels and loyalists on the outskirts of the third biggest city Taez, medical and military sources said.
\nThe United Nations says more than 7,000 people have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded in Yemen since the Arab coalition began its military campaign last year.<\/p>\n
Source: Dawn news<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government against Iran-backed rebels declared a 48-hour ceasefire to begin in Yemen Saturday, it said in a statement on the kingdom’s SPA news agency website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n