Air strikes and clashes continue in Yemen despite ceasefire

SANAA // A UN-proposed Yemen ceasefire got off to a shaky start on Saturday after Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck rebel positions and clashes persisted between Shiite rebels and pro-government fighters.

The six-day truce took effect just before midnight on Friday as aid agencies scrambled to rush desperately needed relief supplies to millions of people threatened by famine.

The Saudi-led coalition has not committed to the ceasefire, and the leader of the Houthi rebels said that he did not expect it to hold.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Al Assiri said that the bloc was “not concerned with this truce because it does not provide a commitment from the Houthi militia”.

The alliance’s leadership had not met UN representatives to coordinate a truce, he told the Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.

Coalition warplanes struck Houthi positions in the central city of Taez, where clashes between the rebels and fighters loyal to exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi continued after the truce.

Violence raged overnight in Taez, with witnesses saying that the Houthis had also bombed several districts.

Yemen’s official news agency, which is run by the exiled government, accused the Houthis and allied troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of sending reinforcements to the city ahead of the truce.

In the south, coalition warplanes also hit rebels in the port city of Aden and the nearby province of Lahj, witnesses said.

The air strikes came after the rebels bombed Aden, according to Abdullah Al Dayani, a spokesman for the southern fighters allied with Mr Hadi.

Warplanes also flew sorties over the capital Sanaa, but there were no attacks after midnight, witnesses said.

The six-day pause was declared after UN chief Ban Ki-moon received assurances from Mr Hadi and the Houthis that it would be respected.

However, the Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday that it had not received a request from the exiled government “asking for a truce or a cessation of military operations”.

Meanwhile, before the ceasefire began, Houthi chief Abdulmalik Al Houthi said, “We do not have much hope for the truce to succeed”.

If the truce is respected, the World Health Organisation and its partners aim to reach more than 2.37 million people.

“This humanitarian pause will allow WHO and health cluster partners to more effectively scale up their response in affected governorates by reaching populations that have been cut off from care and urgently need life-saving health services,” said WHO’s Yemen representative, Ahmed Shadoul.

World Food Programme spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said on Friday that the truce was “our final hope” to reach the needy.

She said that two ships carrying food and fuel were waiting off Aden to dock.

This is the second ceasefire since the coalition launched its air campaign against the Houthis and their allies in March.

A five-day truce in May allowed aid to reach civilians, but UN efforts to prolong it failed.

The latest truce comes more than a week after the United Nations declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale, with nearly half of the country facing a food crisis.

“It is imperative and urgent that humanitarian aid can reach all vulnerable people of Yemen unimpeded and through an unconditional humanitarian pause,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

UN aid agencies are ready to scale up operations, although the response to an appeal for US$1.6 billion (Dh5.9bn) has been meagre, with just 13 per cent of that amount received so far.

Unicef said it was stepping up nutrition screening, vaccinations and other life-saving interventions for millions of children, with teams having to “brave extremely hazardous conditions”.

More than 21.1 million people – over 80 per cent of Yemen’s population – need aid, with 13 million facing food shortages.

The conflict has killed more than 3,200 people, about half of them civilians, since late March, according to the UN.

* Agence France-Presse