Iran Press/Middle East: Yemen’s rival parties had exchanged gunfire on Wednesday and that the sound of heavy artillery could be heard to the east of Hudaydah, AFP reported.
The skirmishes come as retired Dutch Major General Patrick Cammaert is expected to chair a joint committee, including representatives from Yemen's warring factions, to monitor the Hudaydah truce that entered into force on December 18.
Cammaert arrived in Hudaydah on Sunday from the Houthi-held capital, Sana’a, after holding talks with officials from Yemen's former Saudi-allied regime in the city of Aden.
The ceasefire was reached recently in Sweden during peace talks between delegations from the Houthis and Saudi-backed militants.
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The opposite sides agreed to the withdrawal of their forces and the deployment of UN monitors to the port, the entry point for most of Yemen’s commercial goods and vital aid.
The UN monitoring team is tasked with securing the functioning of Hudaydah and supervising forces’ pullout from the city.
On Tuesday alone, the Houthis recorded at least 31 violations of the Hudaydah truce by the aggressors.
However, an official for the Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging a deadly war on Yemen, accused the Houthi fighters of 183 violations, saying 10 Houthi fighters had been killed since the ceasefire went into force.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing back the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Some 16,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.
The assaults of the Saudi-led coalition forces have failed to stop the Yemenis from resisting the aggression. Recently, the Yemeni army unveiled its home-made underground missile launching pads. 101/211
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