Saudi Arabia offers ceasefire plan to Houthi rebels

The Houthis said there was ‘nothing new’ in the proposal by the Saudis

This comes following an increase in the number of attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil sites by Houthi rebels (AP)

Saudi Arabia announced a plan Monday to offer Yemen’s Houthirebels a ceasefire in the country’s years-long war and allow a major airport to reopen in its capital, the kingdom’s latest attempt to halt fighting that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest nation.

The move by Saudi Arabia follows Yemen’s Houthi rebels stepping up a campaign of drone and missile attacks targeting the kingdom’s oil sites, briefly shaking global energy prices amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It also comes as Riyadh tries to rehabilitate its image with the US under President Joe Biden.

Saudi Arabia has waged a war that saw it internationally criticised for airstrikes killing civilians and embargoes exacerbating hunger in a nation on the brink of famine.

Whether such a plan will take hold remains another question. A unilaterally declared Saudi cease-fire collapsed last year.

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Fighting rages around the crucial city of Marib and the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes as recently as Sunday targeting Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. A United Nations mission said another suspected airstrike hit a food-production company in the port city of Hodeida.

The Houthis could not be immediately reached for comment.

“It is up to the Houthis now,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told journalists in a televised news conference in Riyadh. “The Houthis must decide whether to put their interests first or Iran’s interests first.” 

However the Houthis response was to play down the initiative, saying there was nothing new in the offer.

The group’s chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam said the Houthis would continue to talk with Riyadh, Muscat and Washington to try to reach a peace agreement.

“Opening the airports and seaports is a humanitarian right and should not be used as a pressure tool,” Abdulsalam told Reuters.

AP and Reuters