The parties to Yemen’s years-long civil war began a two-month truce over the weekend, the first coordinated cease-fire in at least six years. The United Nations-brokered cease-fire includes a halt to all attacks inside Yemen and on parties to the fight outside of Yemen; permission for ships carrying fuel to enter the rebel-controlled port of Hodeidah, and allowing commercial flights to take off and land at the Sanaa International airport.
The truce coincides with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But there were already reports on Sunday morning of truce violations, by both the Saudi coalition in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi rebels.
“The aim of this truce is to give Yemenis a necessary break from violence, relief from the humanitarian suffering and most importantly hope that an end to this conflict is possible,” UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said in a statement.
The Saudi coalition last week had already declared a truce for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The declaration came as the Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabian targets. Last month, the Houthis struck a Saudi Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, causing a huge fire in a storage tank. The Saudis responded by pounding the Houthi capital of Sanaa, after which the Houthis called a unilateral three-day cease-fire.