Sana'a: A senior official of the Yemen ruling party said that military operations against Al Houthi rebels would only stop after rebels start implementing the six conditions set by the government.
The rebels must not deal as a group independent from the Yemeni state, Tarek Al Shami, spokesman of the ruling party, said on Tuesday, following a new rebel announcement accepting all conditions to peace, including not attacking Saudi Arabia.
"The rebels must realise that they are Yemeni citizens, and they must deal within the framework of the state not as an independent group," Al Shami said.
Al Houthi rebels said in a statement on Tuesday that they would swap the "prisoners" with Saudi Arabia, while the Yemeni government demands them to hand over the "kidnapped" Yemeni and Saudi people.
"If there is a willingness to have peace, this issue can be resolved through an exchange of prisoners," said the rebels in their statement.
They also said their announcement of withdrawal from Saudi territories last week was a signal that they would not like to attack the Saudis any more.
"As long as no one attacks us, we would not target any party," the rebels said in the statement.
These statements from both sides come while ground battles intensify by the day as the Yemeni army try to have the upper hand over the exhausted rebels.
The dispute now between the rebels and the army is over who will start to implement the conditions of ending the war which include the rebels going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.
Clashes between the rebels and the Saudi forces are continuing despite Al Houthi's announcement of withdrawal and the Saudi's announcement ending the war with the rebels, or infiltrators as they are called by the Saudis.
"The rebels should withdraw the snipers from the Saudi borders and open roads and remove mines, before we start the next step which is about the mechanisms of implementing the whole conditions," Al Shami said.
