Yemen: Saudi-led coalition in dire need of extending UN-mediated ceasefire

Yasser al-Houri, a senior official with Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said the enemies are well aware that the Yemeni army will resume its military operation when the ceasefire expires on June 2, and that this is why they are trying to compensate for some of the “mistakes” they have made since the truce took effect in early April.

He was referring to the Saudi-ked coalition’s green light to a commercial flight — the first of its kind in six years — to take off from Yemen’s capital on Monday.

“We have no trust in the enemy, but the aggressors may seek to make up for their lack of commitment [to the truce] and meet the other conditions communicated to them via intermediaries, since they know that is the only way to secure an extension of the ceasefire,” he said.

The Yemeni official slammed the UN for siding with the aggressors in the course of the war, expressing hope that the world body’s incumbent special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, will not repeat the mistakes made by his predecessors.

Grundberg is currently holding talks with the parties to the Yemen conflict, namely the former Yemeni government backed by the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi Ansarullah movement which runs state affairs from Sana’a, in an effort to set the stage for the extension of the 60-day truce.

The Saudi-led coalition has on numerous occasions violated the ceasefire by launching raids on Yemen and maintaining the siege of the Sana’a Airport.

Saudi Arabia and its allies began their military campaign and siege against Yemen in 2015 to reinstall the country’s former Riyadh-allied government. They, however, failed to achieve that goal and are now seeking a face-saving exit from the quagmire.