Saudi Arabia Asks for Yemeni Tribes’ Mediation for Ceasefire with Ansarullah

A high-ranking Yemeni official announced on Sunday that Riyadh has contacted several Yemeni tribes to demand them to start mediation efforts with Ansarullah movement.

“Saudi Arabia has asked a number of pro-Saudi tribes to accept the end of war and avoid retaliation against the Saudi aggression against Yemen,” the Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity told FNA on Sunday.

He noted that the request by Saudi officials comes after Riyadh’s failure to achieve its objectives in Yemen and its failure to make the Pakistani army join the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen.

Yet, the source said Ansarullah is deeply suspicious of the offer as reports said earlier on Sunday that Saudi armored units have stationed at the borderline with Yemen ready to launch a ground assault.

According to a report by the Sky News Arabic program, Saudi military vehicles and tanks crossed Yemen’s border on Sunday as border skirmishes flared up between Yemeni tribal troops and Saudi troopers.
There were also unconfirmed reports by different social media accounts that the Saudi troops are geared up to start their ground operations on Yemeni soil.

Meantime, unconfirmed reports said this afternoon that the Saudi armored units followed by ground troops crossed the border into Northern Yemen.

Yemeni tribal troops were targeted by the kingdom’s airstrikes on the Saudi soil on Sunday, after members of Takhya tribe wrest control over more military bases in Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border city of Sa’ada.

According to reports, the Saudi warplanes carried out a series of massive attacks against Yemeni tribal fighters near the Saudi province of Najran, as the Yemeni tribal troops made more advances in the Saudi soil and managed to retake control of three more military sites.

The tribal troops launched an attack on the al-Minare military base in Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border city of Sa’ada on early Sunday, and left over 18 Saudi soldiers dead and captured dozens of others.

Cross-border skirmishes between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni tribal troops have flared up over the last two weeks, as the monarchy’s illegal airstrikes continue and have so far claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people, particularly at border areas.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 18 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed over 1030 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. The attacks have also left more than 2250 people injured.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Five Persian Gulf States — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait — and Egypt that are also assisted by Israel and backed by the US declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued on March 26.