Saudis set to offer ceasefire to Yemeni rebels

Saudi Arabia has announced a plan to offer Yemen’s Houthi rebels a ceasefire in the country’s years long war and allow a major airport to reopen in its capital.

It is the kingdom’s latest attempt to halt fighting that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Saudi Arabia’s  move comes after the rebels stepped up a campaign of drone and missile attacks targeting the kingdom’s oil sites, briefly shaking global energy prices amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It  also comes as Riyadh tries to rehabilitate its image with the US under President Joe Biden.

Saudi Arabia has waged a war that has seen  it internationally criticised for airstrikes killing civilians and embargoes exacerbating hunger in a nation on the brink of famine.

A unilaterally declared Saudi ceasefire collapsed last year. Fighting rages around the crucial city of Marib, and the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes as recently as Sunday targeting Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

A United Nations mission said another suspected airstrike hit a food-production company in the port city of Hodeida.

The Houthis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It is up to the Houthis now,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told journalists in a televised news conference in Riyadh.

“The Houthis must decide whether to put their interests first or Iran’s interests first.”

Saudi Arabia said the plan would be presented both to the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government last night.

Both would need to accept the plan in order for it to move forward.

Online Editors