Houthi Rebels In Yemen Say They Have Begun Withdrawing From 3 Strategic Ports

Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have begun a withdrawal from three key strategic ports that serve as a vital lifeline for food and humanitarian aid into the war-torn country.

If seen through, the withdrawal from the Red Sea port of Hudaydah, a key gateway for humanitarian aid into Yemen, as well as the ports of Ras Isa and Salif, would represent the first practical step by forces on the ground to implement an internationally-backed ceasefire agreed to in December.

The pullout has yet to be confirmed by the United Nations, but according to Reuters, rebel forces began withdrawing from Hudaydah port on Saturday. Rebels also said they had begun leaving Ras Isa, a port used for oil, and Salif, used for grain, according to The New York Times.

Under a December agreement brokered by the U.N., Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels agreed to pull out from the ports to allow desperately needed aid into the country. The U.N. says the conflict in Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The country is on the brink of famine, and an estimated 80 percent of Yemenis, or 24 million people, are in need of aid, according to the U.N.

The closure of the port in Hudaydah has had a particularly severe impact on the country. In December, reporter Jane Ferguson told NPR, "This city port is the most important in the entire country. This is where at least 80 percent of the foodstuffs come in to the north of Yemen."

The U.N. has repeatedly appealed for access to a vast store of grain at Hudaydah port, which is enough food to feed 3.7 million people for a month. Aid workers were unable to reach the storage of grain for five months, and have warned that it is at risk of rotting.

The withdrawal of Houthi forces is expected to take four days. But according to The New York Times, "The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, described the process as a 'fragile vessel.' "

Observers fear that if the withdrawal fails, the violence in Yemen could grow even more deadly. More than 10,000 people have been reported killed in Yemen over the last five months, bringing the war's death toll to over 70,000 since 2016, according to data collated by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted there were "encouraging signs" in Hudaydah, with reports that Houthis were "beginning to withdraw (under UN supervision) from the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah, Saleff and Ras Issa."

"Vital this happens in full," Hunt said. </s> Alwaght- The Yemeni conflict developments continue as on the one hand the United Nations envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has stepped up efforts to revive and implement the Stockholm peace deal on Hudaydah port and on the other hand Ansarullah and army forces of Yemen are engaged in newly escalated clashes with the forces and mercenaries loyal to the resigned President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi as well as the Saudi-Emirati coalition that has been involved in a military campaign against the Arab country since March 2015.

According to a UN announcement on Friday, Ansarullah movement, the key force fighting the Arab alliance and in charge of the revolutionary administration in the capital Sana’a and other major provinces, agreed to unilaterally remove its forces from the main ports of the country. The UN statement added that the voluntary withdrawal will be from the three ports of Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras Isa.

The UN released a statement on the move, welcoming it and saying that it will be first serious step towards cessation of fire in the country. It emphasized the need for the warring sides to take clarifying measures within the mechanism of the Stockholm agreement.

Ansarullah decision at the time being is quite tactical and smart because on the one side it will expose to the world the frequent violations of the opposite side in the process of the agreement implementation and on the other side accentuate its constructive role in the peace process as a reliable actor keeping its commitments. The movement seriously needs to disclose the Saudi-led coalition’s treacheries in the deal implementation. After the failure of the retreat and ceasefire deal, reached in mid-April between the two sides’ negotiators, Riyadh and its Western allies labeled the Yemeni resistant movement as the factor foiling the pro-peace efforts.

Hudaydah and Saif ports are located in the north of the southern province of Hudaydah and are the only lifelines taking in food and medical aids from the outside world amid a choking land, sea, and air siege imposed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2015. Ras Isa sea terminal is mainly used to import fuel to the highly-impoverished nation. The terminal hosts an oil storage with capacity of 5 million oil barrels and is connected to an oil refinery.

With regard to the significance of the three ports as the major lifelines to the heavily-suffocated Yemeni economy, the coalition states along with their Western backers have embarked on a strategy of economic pressure and blockade to force Ansarullah to abandon its resistance. If the Stockholm deal is implemented, the aggressors will find their only hope of winning a costly war of attrition totally shattering. Ansarullah seems to pave the way for this. With declaring a unilateral withdrawal from the key ports, it will give itself some room to put strains on the invaders using the UN, Security Council, and the global public condemnation.

Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Council, said that “the Yemeni people, their leaders, the army, and the popular committees proved their commitment to peace by the unilateral withdrawal from the ports.” He urged the world community to take measures against the parties that set up obstacles ahead of the Stockholm peace accord’s implementation.

The international pressures have been mounting over the past few months on the Arab alliance members and their Western arms providers to end the “inhumane” blockade on the Yemeni civilians that over the past five years caused a major humanitarian crisis marked by famine, impoverishment, and diseases spread. The World Peace Foundation, affiliated with the University of Tufts, suggested that the humanitarian crisis was instigated by the bombing campaign of the coalition and the economic crisis in the already-suffering nation.

But from another side, the Ansarullah-led popular forces and the army have been advancing in other southern fronts like in Dhale province along with the pullout from the three ports, proving that contrary to the Western-Arab media, Ansarullah’s power is far from declining and the withdrawal is just a tactical step and is not motivated by pressure and force.

While on Friday the Hadi loyalists in a statement announced launching an operation to cleanse Dhale, Maris, and Al-Sanah, the recent strong response to the opponents by Ansarullah and its allies remind of the fact that the movement is pro-peace and committed to its promises. While it holds the power to deal blows to the aggression forces, the movement seeks to avoid further war and bloodshed in the country. </s> Houthi rebels have announced a ceasefire deal with the Yemeni government and withdrawal from the port city of Al-Hudaydah during UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden.

"We agreed on an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all sides in Al-Hudaydah under a UN committee's supervision," Houthi negotiator Jamal Amer said.

He said the supervision of the city’s ports will be given to the UN.

The UN-brokered talks kicked off in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Dec. 6 in an effort to end the 4-year military conflict in Yemen.

Talks between the two warring parties tackle the release of captives, the fight in Al-Hudaydah, Yemen’s central bank, access to humanitarian aid and the Sanaa airport.

As for the Sanaa Airport, Amer said an "initial agreement took place between the two parties on the opening of the airport… with the UN taking technical supervision of all the airports of Yemen."

"However, the other side insists that the airport remains local," he said.

There was no comment from the Yemeni government on the Houthi claim.

Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, and the key port city of Hudaydah.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including its health and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Alwaght- The United Nations says Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has agreed to unilaterally pull out its forces from three key ports over the next four days, a necessary step for the implementation of a ceasefire deal the warring sides reached in Sweden in December.

Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, who heads the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), a UN mission to monitor the deal, said in a statement on Friday that the movement would make an “initial unilateral redeployment” of its forces from Yemen’s three key ports of Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Isa between May 11 and May 14, Press TV reported.

The resistance movement, which has been significantly helping the Yemeni army against a Saudi-led military coalition for the past four years, and the country’s former Saudi-backed government, led by ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, signed a UN-brokered truce deal in Stockholm on December 13.

More than 70 percent of Yemen’s imports used to pass through the docks of Hudaydah, a lifeline for the war-ravaged country's crippled economy. However, since June last year, forces of the United Arab Emirates, a significant ally of Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen, and Hadi’s militia have laid a tight siege to the city, which is under the control of Houthi fighters.

The redeployment of forces from the three port cities is a critical part of the ceasefire deal, aimed at averting a full-scale assault on Hudaydah, but has so far failed to materialize on the ground.

The statement said the redeployment must be followed by “the committed, transparent and sustained actions of the parties to fully deliver on their obligations.”

It also stressed that the redeployment of forces should allow the UN to take “a leading role in supporting the Red Sea Ports Corporation in managing the ports” and to increase UN checks on cargoes.

Following the UN statement, the ex-president's information minister said in a twitter post that the report on the Ansarullah's redeployment offer “is inaccurate and misleading.”

He claimed that the reported redeployment offer was “unacceptable” because a required joint monitoring and verification mechanism as stipulated in the December pact was not foreseen in the UN's Friday arrangement.

No response has been released yet either from the RCC or the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has repeatedly complained about Saudi Arabia’s repeated violation of the ceasefire in Hudaydah.

Leading a coalition of its allies, Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Hadi, who had resigned amid popular discontent and fled to Riyadh, and to crush the Ansarullah.

The imposed war initially consisted of an aerial campaign, but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground mercenaries to Yemen. Furthermore, armed militia forces loyal to Hadi, in line with invaders, launch frequent attacks against Yemeni people in regions held by Ansarullah.

The aggression is estimated to have left 56,000 Yemenis dead.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance. </s> Yemen's Houthi movement has begun withdrawing forces from the country’s port of Saleef in Hodeidah province, finally invoking the terms of a United Nations-sponsored peace deal five months after the agreement was made.

It is the first major step in implementing the deal, which was reached by the Saudi-backed Yemen government of President Abed-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Iran-aligned Houthis for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah last year. The deal is part of international efforts to end the four-year conflict.

The UN's Redeployment Coordination Committee had earlier said the Houthis would make an "initial unilateral redeployment" between Saturday and Tuesday from the ports of Saleef and Ras Isa, as well as the country's main port of Hodeidah.

The Committee said the redeployment would allow the UN to take "a leading role" in supporting the Red Sea Ports Corporation in the management of the Yemeni ports. It also said that this would enhance UN checks on cargoes.

The Houthi group and the Yemeni agreed last December - after a week of UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden - to cease fighting and withdraw forces.

Under the original terms of the deal, international monitors were to be deployed in Hodeidah and all armed forces were to have pulled back completely within 21 days of the start of the ceasefire.

The Houthi movement said it had decided to ‘redeploy unilaterally’ because the government and its international backers had refused to implement the Stockholm agreement.

Hodeidah has become the focus of the war since last year when the coalition twice tried to seize its port to cut off the Houthis' main supply line.

Both sides are expected to pull back further in a second phase.

A spokesman for the Yemeni delegation to the Redeployment Coordination Committee emphasised that the beginning of the Houthi move was “the first step of the first stage.”

The UN has commented that the first day of Houthi redeployment was "in accordance with established plans." </s> Yemen's Houthi rebels began pulling back from three ports on Saturday, the first steps on the ground since a ceasefire deal was agreed.

The withdrawal from Hodeida, Salif and Ras Issa ports started at 10 a.m. local time (0700 UTC), said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels' Supreme Revolutionary Committee.

The withdrawal of rebel forces, delayed since January, was expected to be complete by Tuesday, General Michael Lollesgaard, head of a UN redeployment committee, said in a statement.

The Danish general said he welcomed "the offer and intention" of the Iran-backed Shiite rebels to withdraw from the three lifeline ports.

Equivocal outcome

The pullout was part of an accord, seen as the best hope in years of ending the war, reached in Sweden last December. A UN observer mission, led by Lollesgaard, is set to monitor and report on the Houthi redeployment.

The Houthi representative in a joint coordination team, Brigadier Mohammed al-Qaderi said via Twitter: "We have implemented all obligations of the first phase of redeployment. The UN must commit the other side to implement its obligations."

However, later on Saturday information minister Muammar al-Iryani for the Saudi-backed Yemeni government dismissed the pullout from Hodeida as a "show" intended to "disinform the international community."

Provincial governor Al-Hasan Taher told AFP "The Houthis are staging a new ploy by handing over the ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras to themselves without any monitoring by the United Nations and the government side."

Watch video 01:23 Share Controversial military exports Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Gi2O Germany restarts some arms exports to Saudi Arabia

A Sunni-Muslim coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in March 2015, to push back against an advance by the rebels and restore power to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Read more: Outrage at violation of German arms export rules in Yemen war

According to UN diplomats, Houthis had refused to pull back from the ports because they were worried that the Saudi-led coalition would move in to seize the facilities.

The Saudi-led coalition claimed the rebels are using the ports to smuggle weapons, while the rebels say they would be starved of vital supplies if the coalition held control over them.

The port of Hodeida is one of Yemen's most important lifelines. More than 10 million people are dependent on World Food Programme supplies that enter the country there.

jm,rc/ng (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Yemen’s Houthi group has agreed to unilaterally redeploy forces out of three key ports between May 11 and May 14 to pave the way for United Nations management of the ports under a UN-brokered peace deal, a UN committee said on Friday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, who heads a UN mission to monitor the deal, said the Houthis intended to start withdrawing on Saturday from the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras-Issa.

 

 In a statement, the Redeployment Coordination Committee said it was important that the move be followed by “the committed, transparent and sustained actions of the parties to fully deliver on their obligations”.

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the Arab coalition-backed Yemen government initially agreed in December to withdraw troops by January 7 from Hodeidah - a lifeline for millions facing famine - under a truce aimed at averting a full-scale assault on the port and paving the way for negotiations to end the four-year war. </s> SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have begun a long-delayed withdrawal of their forces from the key port city of Hodeida, following a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, says the pullout from Hodeida, as well as Salif and Ras-Issa ports started on Saturday at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV channel says U.N. observers are monitoring the forces’ withdrawal.

The head of the U.N. operation monitoring the cease-fire, Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, said Friday that the Houthi’s withdrawal from the three ports marked the first practical step toward realizing the cease-fire agreed on in December in Sweden. He added that the Houthis must commit to fully following through on the redeployment, which is expected to take place over three days. </s> Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to an immediate ceasefire in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, the UN secretary general has said, in a potential breakthrough at the end of a week of peace talks in Sweden.

Antonio Guterres said the agreement included the future deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors. Troops from both sides will withdraw from the entire Hodeidah area within a maximum of 21 days in a process overseen by a UN-chaired committee.

A political framework for Yemen will be discussed in a next round of meetings, scheduled for late January.

If implemented on the ground, the deal would represent a breakthrough because the port is the gateway for the bulk of humanitarian aid coming into the country, and has been the subject of intense fighting. Ceasefires have also been agreed at two other ports, Salif and Ras Issa.

Guterres said the UN would play a key role when the troops withdrew. “It is obvious the UN will play an important role in the port, probably a monitoring role and the management of that port,” he said. This would help “facilitate the humanitarian flow of goods to the civilian population and it will improve the living conditions for millions of Yemenis”.

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said troops would withdraw from the port within days, and from the wider city in a second phase. He said the ceasefire was designed to open up the east-west road that connects Hodeidah to the capital, Sana’a “so that the humanitarian pipeline, which is crucial to the people of Yemen, can start delivering aid”.

Agreements have also been reached on a mass prisoner swap and the easing of the siege of the south-western city of Taiz.

Guterres said the UN security council would discuss the terms of a draft resolution designed to monitor and verify the troop withdrawal agreements on Friday. Western powers will offer to provide technology to monitor the redeployments, with an agreement that policing in Hodeidah becomes the responsibility of “local security forces in accordance with Yemini law”.

He said the outcome of the talks in the Swedish town of Rimbo would mean “concrete results in the daily lives of Yemenis”.

The UN-backed Yemeni government lost control of Hodeidah and Sana’a to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. Despite heavy military support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate, the government, which is based in Aden, has been unable to take back either city.

Western backing for the Saudi-led war has frayed in the face of mass casualties, starvation and, more recently, allegations that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was instrumental in organising the killing of the Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.

The agreements, sealed with a handshake between the two sets of negotiators but not any signatures, include the shoring up of the country’s central bank, which should eventually enable the payment of salaries to 1.2 million public sector workers.

The plan raises questions about the capacity of the UN to administer Hodeidah port, including ensuring revenue from it is transferred to Yemen’s central bank. If it fails, the risk remains that fighting for control of the port will continue. Nearly 27% of the Houthi movement’s income comes from the port.

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who flew to Sweden to attend the final day of the talks, said: “It is now vital that the parties act in good faith and take urgent steps to implement these agreements.”

Griffiths had never expected to reach an overall political settlement in this round of talks, the first since 2016, but he said the agreements covered the most sensitive, dangerous and difficult part of Yemen.

He overcame obstacles to the talks ever starting, including the size of the Houthi delegations, its means of transport to Sweden and a demand that 50 of its most seriously injured fighters be flown to Oman for medical treatment.

Despite the antagonism and brutality of the war, many of the talks in Sweden were conducted face to face. Pictures from inside the conference showed the two teams of negotiators smiling and shaking hands.

Backing in the US Senate for the for the Saudi war in Yemen is declining rapidly, placing pressure on the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to urge Washington’s allies to negotiate an end to the conflict.

With both sides suspicious that the other will not honour the agreements struck, Griffiths has tried to draw up detailed implementation plans in an attempt to prevent backsliding.

In Hodeidah, Salem Jaffer Baobaid, an aid worker with Islamic Relief, said: “It is much quieter today. We are not sure what is going to happen, but any relief is welcome.”

Baseem al-Janani, a local resident, said: “We have heard about the ceasefire, but we are very cautious. Today the Houthis dug new trenches, closed off and emptied some neighbourhoods. They do not seem like they are going to stop fighting.”
Houthi forces begin to withdraw from several Yemeni ports, including Al Hudaydah, As-Salif and Ras Isa. The withdrawal is part of a UN-brokered ceasefire deal that aims to end the blockade of Yemen.