Yemen ceasefire takes effect

All sides in Yemen’s year-long war have pledged to honor a UN-brokered ceasefire which took effect at midnight Sunday, AFP reported.

 

Fighting over the past year has killed thousands, displaced 2.4 million, and drawn in Yemen’s neighbors.

 

The chief of staff of forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi confirmed “the ceasefire has taken effect” at 2100 GMT.

 

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi told reporters that “we are going to respect it… unless the Houthi rebels violate it”.

 

Three earlier attempts at ceasefires collapsed after a Saudi-led coalition in March last year began air strikes to support Hadi’s government.

 

The coalition intervened after the Shiite Houthis overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and later advanced to other regions.

 

It is believed Iran is planning to use the Houthis to take over Yemen and seize the key strategic port of Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea and ultimately to the Israeli resort city of Eilat, though Tehran denies the charges.

 

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