Al-Assiri: No peace deal in Yemen as long as Houthi militias exist

Coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri said that the alliance will not accept any peace agreement in Yemen before disbanding the armed wing of the Houthi militias.
His remarks came after an offer by the Iran-backed group for a cease-fire made three days ago was rebuffed.
Al-Assiri’s said at a press conference organized by the Saudi Embassy in Berlin that despite the need for a political solution to the conflict, the Kingdom will not support an agreement that allows the Houthis to keep its militias.
He added: “Things are good now; day after day, the Yemeni Army is getting closer and closer to the capital. We do not expect significant operations in Sanaa because there are not a lot of forces in the capital; we go slowly but constantly.”
Al-Assiri pointed out that Saudi Arabia has rebuilt the Yemeni Army from scratch, and it is still committed to supporting it, but the Kingdom does not want to disturb the people of Yemen by deploying large numbers of Saudi forces in the country.
He added: “We carry out very limited military action in supporting the Yemeni Army. We do air support by targeting Houthi ammunition stores, and we are targeting their movements from time to time, but it is the Yemeni Army’s job.” 
He revealed that Australia and the US, France and Saudi Arabia intercepted five arms shipments from Iran, off the coast of Yemen, without giving details.
Al-Assiri confirmed that Saudi Arabia is trying to avoid civilian casualties by using precision-guided weapons, but he accused the Houthis of using civilian sites for military operations.  He added: “This is a war, mistakes might occur, we are doing what is necessary to avoid any mistakes and if any mistake occurs, we have a committee from the coalition and the government of Yemen which will investigate.”

Source: Arab News