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Yemen’s Huthi rebels announced a three-day truce with the Saudi-led coalition and dangled the prospect of a “permanent” ceasefire on Saturday, the seventh anniversary of a brutal conflict that has left millions on the brink of famine.
A day after a wave of Huthi drone and missile attacks on Saudi targets, including an oil plant that turned into an inferno near the Formula One race in Jeddah, political leader Mahdi al-Mashat put rebel operations on hold.
As thousands of people marched in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, to mark the anniversary, Mashat appeared on TV to announce the “suspension of missile and drone strikes and all military actions for a period of three days”.
“And we are ready to turn this declaration into a final and permanent commitment in the event that Saudi Arabia commits to ending the siege and stopping its raids on Yemen once and for all,” he said.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia, which retaliated to Friday’s attacks by launching air strikes against Sanaa and Hodeida and destroying four explosives-laden boats.
Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country even before the war, has been teetering on the brink of catastrophe for years as the complex conflict rages on multiple fronts.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, directly or indirectly, and millions have been displaced in what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
‘Peace will come’
Mashat said the Huthis are ready to “release all coalition prisoners, including (president Abdrabbuh Mansur) Hadi’s brother, militia prisoners and other nationalities in exchange for the full release of all our prisoners”.
“The Saudi regime must prove its seriousness… by responding to a ceasefire, lifting the siege and expelling foreign forces from our country.
“And then peace will come and then it will be time to talk about…
Source : france24
