Yemen quiet as humanitarian truce takes hold

Yemen fell quiet on Wednesday for the first time since a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against Iran-backed rebels on March 26, as a humanitarian truce appeared to be holding.

Ground skirmishes carried on in some areas beyond the agreed 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) Tuesday start time for the ceasefire but by midnight the fighting had stopped, residents said.

"Sanaa had a quiet night as the noise of bombs and anti-aircraft fire that had terrified everyone came to a halt," said a resident of the rebel-held capital, Tawfiq Abdulwahab.

At dawn, the rebels fired some ground-to-air missiles when coalition reconnaissance planes flew over the capital, but the air defence fire lasted only briefly, witnesses said.

"We hope this truce becomes permanent. We finally managed to sleep peacefully last night," said 25-year-old Sanaa resident Mohammed al-Saadi.

The coalition had warned that the five-day pause in its bombing campaign was conditional on the rebels reciprocating and not exploiting it for military advantage.

It had warned that it would punish any breach.

It took an hour or so for ground fighting between the rebels and loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to halt in some provinces.

Residents and loyalists reported skirmishes after the official start time in the southern provinces of Daleh and Shabwa, as well as third city Taez and the eastern oil province of Marib.

But by Wednesday, the warring sides had ceased fire, they said.
Source: AFP