Yemeni Hezbollah Ansarullah Movement calls for complete end to Saudi aggression

Ansarullah movement has called for a complete end to Saudi Arabia’s aggression against Yemen, urging Riyadh to lift the existing blockade on its southern neighbor, the movement’s spokesman says.

Mohammed Abdulsalam, the spokesman of the Houthi Ansarullah movement, on Wednesday said the complete cessation of the aggression by Saudi Arabia is a crucial condition for launching peace talks under the supervision of the United Nations.

“We demand, after a complete end to the aggression against Yemen and the lifting of the blockade, to resume political dialogue … under the sponsorship of the United Nations,” Abdulsalam said in a statement.

The comments came just one day after Riyadh announced the end of the first phase of its unlawful military operation against Yemen, which has claimed the lives of more than 950 people in 27 days.

However, Saudi warplanes launched fresh strikes against areas in Yemen’s third largest city of Ta’izz.

In his statement, Abdulsalam also praised “positive” efforts by the UN and its support for the intra-Yemeni dialogue.

Ansarullah fighters currently control the capital Sana’a and some other major provinces.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, resigned last week after what he described as lack of enough support from some countries of the region.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against the Ansarullah fighters of the Houthi movement started on March 26 – without a United Nations mandate – in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Houthis say Hadi lost his legitimacy as president of the country after he escaped the capital in February.