Jizan, Riyadh- The U.N. special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed issued a statement on Friday announcing that the 72-hour ceasefire, scheduled to end on Saturday, has been extended.
Yemen’s insurgency factions have violated the truce on several occasions and are expected to keep on doing so.
Ould Cheikh revealed that prolonging the ceasefire is in line with the preparations on achieving permanent and sustainable peace.
The U.N. envoy also mentioned that he has been carrying out discussions on extending the truce with Yemen’s warring parties.
Insurgency militias, composed of Iran-backed Houthis and fighters supporting the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have for the second day in a row continued staging violations that have so far amounted to 205 incidents against Saudi borderline cities of Jizan and Najraan.
The number of truce violations inside Yemen count up to 692 over the last 24 hours. Most disruptions are detected at Taiz registering a whopping 265- second comes in al Jawf region at a 116 incidents, and 124 attacks recorded at Marib.
Among the areas registering lower activity of Houthi gunmen are the Dhale governorate at 44 violations, Al Bayda at 41, Shabwah at 24, and Hajjah at 48 violations.
For his part, a senior official at the U.S. Secretary of State warned that the ongoing breaches will threaten the chance of achieving permanent peace. He also told Asharq Al-Awsat the violations compromise the hope of relaunching negotiations among Yemen’s parties.
Even though numerous violations are recorded, the unstable ceasefire is holding up so far, and has resulted in public security and stability improving in Sana’a and some Yemeni areas, the U.N. envoy said.
Yemen’s national army is committing to self-preservation and has urged all soldiers to commit and uphold the ceasefire, despite being put under attack. Nonetheless the army will be reserving the right to retaliatory response.
Washington Says Violations of Yemen Truce Threaten Negotiations
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