Yemen Agrees to Cease-Fire With Rebels as Peace Talks Begin. The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels called an immediate halt to hostilities on Tuesday as they started peace talks mediated by a United Nations special envoy at an undisclosed location in Switzerland, a United Nations spokesman confirmed.
Shuaib Almosawa from Sanaa, Yemen, New York Times said, “The cease-fire took effect at midday in Yemen, hours after a Saudi-led military coalition announced a seven-day pause in the campaign of intensive airstrikes it has conducted in support of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen.” [ 01 ]
“Delegates from the government, the Houthi group known as Ansarullah and other parties headed on Monday for the peace talks that will kick off in Geneva on Tuesday. The talks will be brokered by the UN and seek to establish a durable ceasefire, a resumption of the political process and a plan to implement the UN resolutions especially the resolution 2216.” said Yemen Post. [ 02 ]
Yemen’s official website, Saba Net states, “The ceasefire [will last] for a period of seven days starting from the 15th to the 21st of December in conjunction with the launch of consultations, and will be renewed automatically in the event of the commitment of the other party.” [ 03 ]
Saudi Arabia warned that it “reserves the right to respond in case of any violation” by the rebels, in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. [ 04 ]
“The Saudi aggression pounded on Monday several areas in Sa’ada province with dozens of rockets,” a security official said. “The Saudi rocket launchers launched more than 80 rockets on al-Suh, al-Malil and al-Qama’a in Kitaf district and many areas of Razeh district,” the Saba Net article said.
“The bombardment targeted citizens’ houses and farms and main roads,” said an eyewitness in a report by Saba Net, adding that, “the Houthi army attack on Monday was clearly a blow to the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition.” [ 05 ]
Saba News reports the following attacks have occurred in the past 48 hours:
“The missile force of the army fired on Monday a Tochka missile at the enemy operations center in Bab al-Mandab in Taiz province, killing hundreds of the enemy soldiers. The official spokesman of the armed forces, Sharaf Luqman confirmed to Saba that the rocket hit his target with high accuracy causing large losses in lives and gear to the Saudi-led coalition forces.
“The preliminary information affirmed the death and injury of hundreds of the enemy soldiers and mercenaries in Bab al-Mandab, including foreigners,” the spokesman said.
“Nearly 146 bodies mostly charred were transferred to Aden city and Amran camp, and a medical ship belonging to the aggression coalition reached near the coast of Aden in an attempt to help the evacuation and treatment of the injured,” Luqman added. [ 06 ]
“The army and popular committees cleansed on Monday the north-eastern hill ranges of Kuwfal Mounts in Serwah district of Mareb province, a military official said. A number of the aggression mercenaries were killed during the military operations and many armored vehicles were destroyed by the army and popular committees, the official said.” [ 07 ]
“The army and popular committees destroyed on Monday the command building of the Saudi border guards in Rabuah area of Asir region. In a special operation of the army and popular committees, joint specialized units managed to capture the command building of Saudi border guards in Rabuah area and destroyed it completely, a military official said.” [ 08 ]
According to Euro News, at least 20 people have been killed at a market in the town of Marib, east of Sana’a in rocket fire from Houthi rebels. According to eyewitnesses and medical workers, twenty people were killed and dozens wounded at the packed market. [ 09 ]
Reuters reports the Houthis and Saleh’s former political party, the General People’s Congress, are sending representatives to Switzerland on Tuesday for talks with Yemen’s internationally recognised government under Hadi. [ 10 ]
- “The United Nations says more than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen, about half of them civilians, since March.
- “At least 80 people, mostly soldiers and border guards, have been killed in Saudi Arabia because of the Yemen conflict.
- “The UAE says it has lost almost 70 soldiers so far.
- “Several Bahraini troops, and one Qatari soldier have been killed as part of the coalition operations.” said news site Al Jazeera in a recent article. [ 11 ]
“Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict, almost half of them civilians. It has also pushed Yemen to the brink of famine,” reports Reuters. [ 12 ]
The Yemen Post has published an appeal by the public health ministry in Yemen to the international community asking them to intervene, as more than 700.000 diabetes patients in the country have completely ran out of insulin. In the statement, the ministry urged immediate action to provide medicines, primarily those being held in Djibouti due to the blockade.
Many hospitals have shut down because of lack of medicines, fuels and electric power.
According to the UN, around 14 million Yemenis are in need of urgent medical help and around 500.000 children are facing acute malnutrition. In some provinces such as Taiz, raging battles have left the people face harsh conditions since there has been no supplies and no access to aid delivery. [ 13 ]
There are ways you can help.
Babies, children, youth, fathers, mothers, the elderly, sick, and disabled, all good people are suffering extreme hardship, (under the horrendous display of inhumanity on the part of King Salman, and President Hadi of Saudi Arabia), because of being denied entry to hospitals, denied medical care of any kind, denied delivery of medicine, food or water, and the ultimate blow, the King has denied an entire country from humanitarian aid and medical treatment, thus breaking the Geneva Convention rules of war.
The Colour of War section of the Alistair Reign News Blog is a resource of related information: with links to petitions, stories from survivors, articles with casualty statistics; including charity fundraising groups I have researched, and recommend giving your generous donations to help them personally take aid to orphaned children, and families trapped in war zones.
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