Ukraine in Arabic | Five-day humanitarian truce expires in Yemen

19.05.2015 - 13:16 #Yemen, #Houthi rebels, #Saudi-led coalition, #fighting, #humanitarian truce

As a special conference on the Yemen crisis opened in Riyadh, there were reports that a Saudi-led coalition force had resumed air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Kiev/ Ukraine in Arabic/ There had been hopes that a five-day humanitarian truce which has now expired would be extended however explosions were heard in the port city of Aden over night.

Yemen’s exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is attending the conference in Riyadh, accused the Houthi’s of using the truce to regroup and prepare for yet more fighting instead of listening to the Yemeni people whom he said ‘want to live with dignity and justice’.

The Shia Houthi rebels have stayed away from the talks. Since Tuesday the Saudi-led forces and the rebels had largely observed the ceasefire to allow the delivery of food and medical supplies to millions of Yemenis caught up in the conflict.

According to the United Nations there are currently 12 million people without access to food or clean water. The Saudi-led coalition has carried out air strikes since March against the Iran-backed Houthis and allied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The rebels forced current President Mansour Hadi to first flee the capital Sanaa in February and later seek refuge in Saudi Arabia.