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 Tuesday's announcement by Riyadh that it would end its campaign of
air strikes against the Iranian-allied Houthis drew positive
responses from both the White House and Tehran, as well as fresh
calls for peace talks and for urgent deliveries of humanitarian aid.
But hours later, Houthi fighters captured the compound of an army
brigade loyal to the government in Yemen's central city of Taiz
following heavy fighting. A Saudi air strike was conducted on the
brigade headquarters shortly afterwards, residents said.
The brigade, along with several other formations, had declared its
loyalty to exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, opening up a new
front in the conflict against the Houthis.
Militiamen in southern Yemen said late on Tuesday they would
continue fighting the Houthis until they drove them out of the
region, despite Saudi Arabia saying its month-old campaign against
the Houthis had met its goals.
Southerners and Houthis fought clashes on Wednesday around the
southern town of Dalea, a hotbed of southern separatism which has
changed hands several times in the conflict.
"This front will not stop its fight until all the south is purified
from the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces," a statement by a group
called the southern resistance movement said.
DIALOGUE
The southern movement brings together southern civilians, former
army officers and members of a southern secessionist movement to
oppose the Houthis, who are fighting alongside troops loyal to
former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh himself welcomed Saudi Arabia's announcement and called for
the renewal of political dialogue, according to a statement on his
Twitter account.
"We hope that everybody will return to dialogue to solve and treat
all the issues," Saleh, a powerful ally of the Houthis, said in the
message, which was also posted on his Facebook page.
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was ending month-long air strikes
against the Houthis, whose seizure of swathes of Yemen in recent
months has stirred Saudi fears that Iran is acquiring decisive
influence in a country Riyadh sees as its backyard.
Residents said the capital Sanaa had had a quiet night, a respite
from almost nightly raids since the campaign began on March 26.
Saudi Arabia said a new phase called "Operation Restoring Hope"
would now begin in which political, diplomatic and military action
would be combined but the main focus would be on the political
process.
Saudi Arabia's leading role against the Houthis has turned Yemen
into the latest theater of a regional proxy conflict between the
Gulf's leading Sunni Muslim and Shi'ite Muslim powers - a struggle
also playing out in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
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SHORTAGES OF FOOD
The conflict has also created desperate shortages of food and other
supplies in Yemen, where sea and airports are closed. The World
Health Organization said on Tuesday that 944 people were reported
killed and 3,487 wounded in Yemen in the four weeks up to Friday.
Houthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti on Tuesday accused the
United States of worsening a "siege" of the country by sending
warships to the waters off Yemen.
The United States said on Monday an aircraft carrier and
guided-missile cruiser had gone there to join seven other U.S.
warships already in the area.
The Pentagon said the ships were there to ensure freedom of
navigation through the area, which is vital to oil shipping and
controls approaches to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
It said the ships were also watching a flotilla of Iranian cargo
vessels that had approached Yemen. The U.N. Security Council has
imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis, and the Saudi navy has
imposed a naval blockade around the country.
President Barack Obama warned Iran on Tuesday not to send weapons to
Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the region.
"What we've said to them is that, 'If there are weapons delivered to
factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that's a
problem,'" he said.
Iran called for all sides in Yemen's conflict to start negotiations,
saying long-term peace was possible.
"History has demonstrated that military intervention is not a proper
response to these crises and will instead exacerbate the situation,"
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said at an Asian-African conference
in Jakarta.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Shi'ite Iran of
arming the Houthis, a claim Iran denies.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashef, Mohammed Ghobari, Maha El Dahan,
Amena Bakr and Sami Aboudi; Writing by William Maclean; Editing by
Giles Elgood)
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