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Riyadh declares five-day Yemen truce: SPA

Saturday, 25 July 2015 1:27 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 25 July 2015 3:28 PM ]

Vendors salvage goods from under the rubble of their shops following an airstrike by Saudi Arabia on the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, July 20, 2015. (AFP photo)

Riyadh has announced a five-day lull in its deadly military aggression against Yemen, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

A Saturday statement carried by the SPA said that the “humanitarian” ceasefire will take effect from Sunday evening at 11:59 pm Yemen’s local time (2100 GMT) and will last for five days.

It said the truce is meant to allow humanitarian and medical aid to be delivered to the Yemeni people.

The statement warned, however, that Riyadh reserves the right to respond to any "military activity or movement" by the Popular Committees allied with the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

It said Saudi fighter jets will keep conducting reconnaissance missions above Yemen to obtain information about the movement of the Houthi forces and their allies.

Yemen’s ruling Ansarullah movement has not yet made any comment on the announcement.

Saudi Arabia had repeatedly violated previous UN-brokered ceasefires in Yemen.

Yemenis attend a rally in the capital Sana'a on July 24, 2015, protesting against Saudi airstrikes. (AFP Photo)

The Saudi aggression against the impoverished Arab nation started on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said earlier this month that at least 1,693 civilians had been killed and 3,829 others injured in the Arab country since March 26. However, local sources say more than 4,500 people have lost their lives.

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