Yemen: US initiatives far from reality, prospects of peace

“What US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking has presented, through the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman, is far away from reaching a desired and realistic level,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in an interview with Russia’s RT Arabic television news network on Monday.

He added that Washington is still far from prospects of peace, and the latest US ceasefire plan is still a mere proposal and its text has not been produced yet.

On March 12, the US special envoy for Yemen said following a three-week trip to the region that a “sound plan” for a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen had been before Sana’a for “a number of days.”

Tim Lenderking said Washington is looking for the Houthi movement’s response to its peace plan, but claimed that Ansarullah does not appear interested in a ceasefire at this moment, and is supposedly prioritizing a military campaign to take the strategic central province of Ma’rib.

“I will return immediately when the Houthis are prepared to talk,” Lenderking said at the time.

No details are available about the content of the ceasefire plan, but Sana’a said earlier that the US proposal had nothing in it and merely represented the Saudi and the United Nations’ vision. Yemen also said the plan does not include ceasing fire and breaking the siege, and it would only lead to a resumption of the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia and allied aggressor states on the country.

Yemen: Humanitarian issue won’t be traded

Furthermore, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesman for the Ansarullah movement, said no just solution to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been worked out.

“No just solution has been produced to address the humanitarian catastrophe. We reiterate our definite policy that the humanitarian issue will not be traded in any way,” Abdul-Salam wrote in a post published on his Twitter page.

He added, “When there is no desire to differentiate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen from other issues, it means there is no seriousness for a comprehensive, just and peaceful solution [to Yemen conflict].”

Saudi-led warplanes launch new airstrikes on Ma’rib

Separately, Saudi-led military aircraft have carried out more air raids against several areas in Yemen’s central province of Ma’rib as Yemeni armed forces, backed by fighters from popular Committees, continue to make advances there.

Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported that the warplanes conducted 15 airstrikes against targets in the Sirwah district, and another three in the Medghal district.

There were no immediate reports about the extent of damage caused and possible casualties.

Over the past few weeks, Ma’rib has been the scene of large-scale operations by Yemeni troops and allied Popular Committees fighters, who are pushing against Saudi-sponsored militants loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Saudi-led forces violate Hudaydah truce 90 times in 24 hours

Additionally, an unnamed source in Yemen’s Liaison and Coordination Officers Operations Room said forces of the Saudi-led military coalition and their mercenaries had violated 90 times during the past 24 hours a ceasefire agreement between warring sides for the western coastal province of Hudaydah.

Yemen’s official Saba news agency, citing the source at the monitor, reported that the violations included more a dozen reconnaissance flights over various districts, including Kilo 16 and al-Jabaliya neighborhoods, as well as 16 counts of artillery shelling.

Delegates from the Ansarullah movement and representatives loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi attended the peace negotiations in Rimbo on the outskirts of Stockholm in December 2018. The talks resulted in the announcement of a breakthrough agreement.

The document included three provisions: a ceasefire along the Hudaydah front and the redeployment of armed forces out of the city and its port; an agreement on prisoner exchange; and a statement of understanding on the southern Yemeni city of Ta’izz.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and other regional allies, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi’s government back to power and crushing Ansarullah. 

Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees have, however, gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.

The Saudi-led military aggression has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions of people. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases across the country.