Sana’a: Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, was calm overnight and into Wednesday morning after Saudi Arabia declared an end to its month-long air strikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Al Houthi rebels and their allies.

For the residents, it was the quietest night in almost four weeks, with no massive explosions or new scenes of devastation to wake up to.

The Al Houthi militia called for a massive rally, urging supporters over their Al Masirah TV network to take to the streets of Sana’a later Wednesday to mark the end of the bombardment and to denounce the Saudi “aggression.”

The US-backed air strikes campaign by Saudi Arabia, launched on March 26, was aimed at crushing Al Houthis and allied military units loyal to former autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had taken over Sana’a and much of northern Yemen.

The kingdom said its aim was also to restore to power President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee Yemen to Saudi Arabia last month in the face of the Al Houthi advance.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia declared an end of its Storm of Resolve air campaign against Al Houthis and announced the start of a more limited military campaign aimed at preventing the rebels from operating.

Speaking at a news conference in Riyadh, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition Brig. Gen. Ahmad Asiri said that the campaign of heavy air strikes would be scaled down, but did not confirm whether they would stop altogether.

“There might be less frequency and the scope of the actions might be less, but there will be military action,” Asiri said. He added that Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies, mainly Gulf Arab countries, were concluding this phase of the operation upon the request of the “legitimate” Yemeni government, led by Hadi.

He also said the goals of the coalition’s new phase, called “Renewal of Hope,” are to prevent Al Houthi rebels from “targeting civilians or changing realities on the ground.”

In an apparent goodwill gesture on Wednesday, the militia released from detention the country’s Defence Minister Mahmoud Al Subaih, the brother of the embattled President Hadi and a third military commander. The three were held for nearly a month by Al Houthis.

The move could reflect an imminent political deal between Hadi and the rebels and their allies.

In one of the first regional reactions to Yemen developments, Pakistan, which did not join the Saudi-led coalition although it supported the campaign, said it welcomed the end of the air strikes and expressed hope this would “pave the way for political solution of the crisis in Yemen.”

However, fighting continued on the ground on Wednesday in the southern port city of Aden, which Al Houthis have failed to fully wrest from the hands of Hadi loyalists.

The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the violence in Yemen has killed 944 people since the start of the month-long fighting, and wounded 3,500.