SANAA: The Yemeni government announced Friday it was suspending its military offensive against Shiite rebels to facilitate the work of aid agencies in ensuring the safety of civilians.
The decision came hours after the military said three leaders of the rebellion were killed in a dawn attack on their hide-outs in Saada province, center of the rebellion.
The cease-fire that took effect at 9 p.m. is in response to requests from the aid agencies and to an offer from the rebels to cooperate in that effort, the Security Commission said.
“The government sees no problem in suspending military operations,” said the commission supervising operation Scorched Earth, which began Aug.11.
Sanaa is complying with requests from international humanitarian organizations and inhabitants of Saada province to allow in food and help for displace people, the statement added.
The suspension follows the rebels’ announcement of their “undertaking to halt attacks on the armed forces” and “remove mines, explosives and roadblocks,” it added.
The rebels in a statement on Friday that they are ready to cooperate with a UN plan for a “humanitarian corridor” to allow aid into the areas where fighting is taking place.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has said Saada city is practically cut off from the outside world, and called for humanitarian corridors to allow people out and aid in. “The situation is deteriorating by the day,” a spokesman said on Aug. 26, estimating that more than 35,000 people have been displaced by the latest outbreak of violence that has afflicted the province sporadically since 2004. On Wednesday rebel leader Abdel-Malek Al-Huthi threatened a war of attrition after the government refused his offer of a truce.
“The authorities have missed the chance” to end the confrontation and “they will be responsible for the consequences of the war,” he said.
Thousands of people have been killed and the UNHCR estimates 150,000 have been displaced over the past five years.
Referring to the Friday assault, the military statement said “leaders of the rebellion, among the most dangerous terrorist elements, were killed” in the attack at Malaheez.
The report named the men as Jarallah Mohammed Ismail, Ali Abd Rabbo Jabal and Abdel Aziz Al-Uraimi.
The army said it had stepped up its operation by sending elite marksmen to the conflict zones and this “has inflicted enormous losses” on the rebels.
