In Yemen, sporadic fire ahead of ceasefire

Al Mukalla: A new ceasefire was to enter into effect in Yemen at midnight Sunday with the United Nations hoping it can be the cornerstone of a long-lasting peace deal at upcoming talks in Kuwait.

However, ahead of the ceasefire there was sporadic fighting across the country.

Al Houthis on Saturday night fired a ballistic missile from a remote village in the province of Sana’a but it exploded soon after. It is the latest in a series of botched attempts to fire rockets at Yemeni government forces.

Al Masdar Online, an independent news site, quoted residents in the area as saying that Al Houthis launched at roughly 8pm a ballistic missile from a military site between the regions of Al Rajo and Naaet in Sana’a’s Arhab district.

The residents said the rocket failed to reach its target and exploded soon after it was launched.

Al Houthis and their military allies have many times misfired ballistic rockets aimed at government forces or the coalition troops in Marib or Al Anad in south Yemen.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition that has been heavily bombing Al Houthi-controlled military sites in the capital since March 2015, says it is working to wipe out the militants’ arsenal of Soviet era ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, in the Jawf province, at least 20 Al Houthi militants and six government fighters were killed in heavy clashes in the Al Metoun district on Sunday.

Fighting also flared on the front lines of battles in Marib, Shabwa and Sana’a.

The upswing in violence came just hours before a ceasefire was to go into effect. Observers say Al Houthi militants wish to gain as much territory as possible ahead of the truce.

In general, analysts are optimistic after mediation efforts have largely silenced the guns along the border with Saudi Arabia. The planned truce was only agreed by the warring sides after months of shuttle diplomacy by UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad.

Al Houthis and Hadi’s government said this week that they have submitted their remarks to the UN mediator on the terms of the ceasefire, which will test their willingness to negotiate a peace deal at the Kuwait talks.

“We will go to the consultations (in Kuwait) to achieve peace,” Hadi reiterated on Saturday, insisting however that Al Houthis must commit to UN Security Council Resolution 2216 which calls for their withdrawal from seized territories and disarmament.

Previous UN-sponsored negotiations between Al Houthi militants and the government failed to make any headway, and a ceasefire in December was repeatedly violated by Al Houthi militants and eventually abandoned.

Meanwhile, in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, unidentified gunmen on Sunday gunned down the secretary general of Mansoura’s local council and his son in the morning.

A security official in Aden told Gulf News that Ahmad Al Haydari and his son were eating in a small cafeteria when the attackers opened fire on them.

Al Haydari is the first high profile government figure to be killed in the city for weeks.

Drive-by killings used to be a daily occurrence since Aden was liberated from Al Houthi occupation in July of 2015. Since then, a massive security campaign was launched to rid the city of militiamen hiding in areas of Mansoura district.

On Sunday, the governor of Aden Aidarous Al Zubidi and the city’s security chief, Shallal Shaye said that they are determined to clear the entire city from terrorists cells that underline security in the strategic city. In a meeting with government officials, heads of NGOs and dignitaries, Al Zubidi said that all key government institutes in the city are under control of his forces and security forces foiled many terrorist attacks.