CAIRO — The Saudi-led military coalition declared a 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen on Saturday, on the condition that Shiite rebels abide by it and allow humanitarian assistance into besieged cities, particularly the city of Taiz.

However, minutes after it went into effect, activists in Taiz said that rebel shelling continued in the city while a rebel-affiliated military spokesman said that there was no halt of fighting.

Col. Sharaf Loqman, a military spokesman, told The Associated Press that the fighting hasn't stopped at any of the front-lines. He said that the rebels support a full cessation of hostilities, but that the reality at the moment is, "all parties are engaged in fighting."

The Saudi news agency SPA carried a statement from the coalition that said the truce would take effect at 12 p.m. Yemeni time on Saturday and that it could be renewed. The coalition warned the rebels, known as Houthis, against any sort of military movement.

The ceasefire comes at a time that forces loyal to the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized government have made advances in Taiz, which has been besieged by the rebels for the past year.

The coalition has demanded that the Houthis send their representatives to meet with a de-escalation committee based in a southern Saudi city, in order to make security and military arrangements to end rebel control over several cities in the north — including the capital, Sanaa.

While the coalition stressed that the ceasefire is aimed at paving the way for peace, it didn't elaborate on whether it's accepting the U.N.-brokered peace plan — which sidelines President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and gives the rebels a share of power.

The truce also comes two days after an earlier plan for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire faltered. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with Houthi representatives in Oman this week, set Nov. 17 as the beginning of the ceasefire. The plan was immediately rejected by Hadi's government, which accused Kerry of striking a unilateral deal. The coalition made no comment on Kerry's announcement.

The conflict in Yemen has divided the country into rival regions with the northern — predominated by Shiites — under rebel control while the south — mostly Sunnis — is under the coalition's control.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 at the request of Hadi, who was forced to flee the country when the Houthis joined ranks with forces loyal to the ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and descended from their northern enclave — seizing the capital and pushing southward.

The coalition imposed a blockade on Yemen, and the airstrikes along with ground fighting have left over 4,000 civilians dead and tens of thousands wounded. The conflict has forced 3 million people to flee their homes and pushed the Arab world's poorest nation to the brink of famine. </s> Yemen's Houthi group said on Wednesday it was ready to stop fighting and join a national unity government, raising hopes of a resolution to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people.

The announcement appeared to confirm the details of a deal set out by US Secretary of State John Kerry a day earlier that he said included plans for a ceasefire starting on Thursday.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the political council of the Houthi's Ansarullah group, said Saudi Arabia had also agreed to end its involvement in the war - though there was no official confirmation from Riyadh.

An Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemen conflict in March last year in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Iran-aligned Houthis advanced on his interim capital in Aden and forced him into exile.

"Ansarullah's position has been and still is with stopping the war and the establishment of a national unity government that incorporates all political components," Bukhaiti told Reuters, responding to a question on Kerry's announcement.

"The new thing is in the position of Saudi (Arabia), which has agreed in principle to stop the war as one of the parties to the conflict," Bukhaiti added.

After months of bombings and other attacks, no side has emerged as the dominant force in a war that has displaced more than three million people, left parts of the population on the edge of starvation and given room for a powerful branch of al Qaeda to expand its operations.

Ceasefire

Kerry, in what could be his last trip to the Gulf before President Barack Obama's term ends in January, said on Tuesday that officials from the Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition meeting had agreed to a ceasefire starting on Thursday.

Underlining the complexity of the situation, Hadi's government quickly rejected the move, complaining that it had been bypassed. Copies of a U.N. peace plan seen by Reuters in October suggested he would be sidelined in any future government.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said Kerry's announcement had not been coordinated with the government which, he said, was not interested in the plan.

"I believe the current US administration is incapable of providing any guarantees to any party and what Kerry has said is no more than a media bubble at our people's expense," Mekhlafi told Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

The frontline has changed little over the past few months despite repeated offensives by Hadi's supporters who operate under air cover from the Saudi-led alliance.

Hadi's government says the Houthis have illegally seized power in a coup backed by Iran, and demands that they quit the cities they have seized and hand over heavy weapons before any political settlement starts.

The Houthis say they seized power to end corruption and to get rid of Islamist militants they say had expanded their influence during Hadi's presidency. </s> CAIRO (AP) — The Saudi-led military coalition has declared a 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen, on the condition that Shiite rebels abide by it and allow humanitarian assistance into cities under their control.

The Saudi news agency SPA carried a statement from the coalition early Saturday. The truce will take into effect at 12 p.m. Yemeni time on Saturday, the statement said, and it could be renewed. The coalition warns the rebels, known as Houthis, against any sort of military movement.

The ceasefire comes as forces loyal to the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized government have made advances in the key western city of Taiz, which has been besieged by the rebels for the past year. </s> The cessation of hostilities was due to start at 12 p.m. ( 4 a.m. ET ) it said.

The news agency said the ceasefire was "extendable" as long as Houthi militias and forces loyal to them abide by it.

The aim is to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to besieged areas, the news agency said, particularly Taz City. But coalition forces will respond to any military movements from the opposing side, it said.

The truce is a response to efforts by the United Nations and the international community to bring peace to Yemen, the SPA said.

Ceasefires have previously been declared in Yemen, but each time hostilities have resumed. Approximately 10,000 Yemenis have died and millions are in need of aid in a 20-month conflict that has been dubbed the " forgotten war ," because it has occurred in the shadows of the Syrian conflict. US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry had met earlier with members of the Houthi delegation in Muscat, Oman, in a push to make progress on resolving the conflict. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, had indicated a willingness to abide by the terms of a cessation of hostilities established in April, she said, provided other parties also stick to it. "We understand the Saudi-led coalition has also expressed a willingness to return to the cessation. Additionally, the Houthis accepted the UN-drafted roadmap as a basis for negotiations to end the conflict to work for the establishment of a new national unity government," she said. As of Tuesday, the Yemeni government had not agreed to the ceasefire, Trudeau indicated. But it now appears to be on board, with the Saudi Press Agency reporting that the truce was declared on the basis of Saudi Arabia's King Salman receiving a message from Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. The war in Yemen began in early 2015 when Houthi rebels -- a minority Shia group from the north of the country -- drove out the US-backed government and took over the capital, Sanaa. The country has become a proxy battleground between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Millions at risk of starvation in Yemen Millions at risk of starvation in Yemen A Saudi-led coalition, made up of several Arab countries, began a military campaign in March 2015 aimed at restoring the Yemeni government and preventing the Houthis and forces loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power. In August, peace talks failed, prompting an increase in airstrikes in the weeks that followed. Last month, the World Food Programme warned that millions were at risk of starvation in Yemen, saying "an entire generation could be crippled by hunger." UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien also gave a strongly worded statement to the UN Security Council at the end of October in which he urged an immediate cessation of hostilities to save a generation of Yemenis from "humanitarian catastrophe" and conflict. </s> LONDON -- The United States and Britain expressed hope Sunday that a cease-fire can begin in Yemen in the coming days, as a flurry of diplomatic negotiations focused on the impoverished, war-torn country.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said mediation is ongoing involving Yemen's exiled, internationally recognized government and the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who control much of the country.

Negotiators "are calling today for the implementation of a cease-fire to be implemented by the parties as rapidly as possible, meaning Monday, Tuesday, but moving very rapidly," Kerry said Sunday. "This is the time to implement a cease-fire unconditionally, and then move to the negotiating table."

Key players of both parties -- Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the rebels' lead negotiator and the Saudi Arabian foreign minister -- were said to have agreed to the arrangement.

The United States backs Hadi's government, as well as a Saudi-led coalition that has battled the rebels since last year.

After the meeting in London, Kerry, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations' special envoy to Yemen, called for an immediate cease-fire to begin in the coming days. Britain has been under pressure to find a solution to the conflict because it's a key supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia. In the last nine months of 2015, Saudi Arabia accounted for 40 percent of Britain's military sales.

"The world has had enough of the conflict now in Yemen," Johnson said. "The road map offers a genuine way forward for both sides if they will take that opportunity."

The war has been largely overshadowed by the conflict against the Islamic State militant group elsewhere in the Middle East, though rights groups have increasingly criticized the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes in recent months, as well as the United States as the coalition's primary weapons supplier. One of those airstrikes -- the bombing of a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa, on Oct. 8 -- killed at least 140 people.

The U.S. has also in the past week fired Tomahawk missiles after the targeting of a naval warship by Houthi rebels.

In the latest U.S. Navy report, a group of American warships in the Red Sea on Saturday night "had indications of a possible inbound missile threat and deployed appropriate defensive measures," said Capt. Paula Dunn, a spokesman for U.S. Navy Forces Central Command. She said in a statement that all ships and sailors were safe, without elaborating.

An American defense official said Sunday that one of the ships picked up on radar what sailors believed to be missiles being fired out of Yemen at night. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the possible threat that were not yet made public.

The Houthis and their allies did not immediately comment.

The Red Sea and the nearby Bab el-Mandeb strait, a crucial choke point for international shipping and crude oil, has been the scene of what the U.S. describes as at least two missile attacks from rebel-held territory in Yemen. The Tomahawk missiles -- the first shots fired by the U.S. in anger in the conflict -- destroyed mobile radar positions.

The Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency has run dispatches denying that rebels fired on American warships.

Yemen has been at war since September 2014, when the Houthis swept into Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab nations launched a campaign against the Houthis in March 2015.

The U.N. and rights groups estimate the conflict has killed at least 9,000 people and displaced nearly 3 million more.

Information for this article was contributed by Bradley Klapper and Jon Gambrell of The Associated Press and by John Ainger of Bloomberg News. </s> LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain called on Sunday for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Yemen to end violence between Iran-backed Houthis and the government, which is supported by Gulf states.

A Saudi-led campaign in Yemen has come under heavy criticism since an air strike on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed 140 people according to a United Nations’ estimate and 82 according to the Houthis.

On Saturday, a U.S. admiral said a destroyer had again been targeted in the Red Sea in an apparent failed missile attack launched from the coast of Yemen.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said if Yemen’s opposing sides accepted the ceasefire then the special envoy to the U.N., Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, would work through the details and announce when and how it would take effect.

“This is the time to implement a ceasefire unconditionally and then move to the negotiating table,” Kerry told reporters.

“We cannot emphasize enough today the urgency of ending the violence in Yemen,” he said after meeting British foreign minister, Boris Johnson, and other officials in London.

Kerry said they were calling for the implementation of the ceasefire “as rapidly as possible, meaning Monday, Tuesday”.

The UN’s special envoy said he had been in contact with the Houthi’s lead negotiator and the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. He also said he hoped for “clearer plans” for a ceasefire in the coming days

Johnson said the conflict in Yemen was “causing increasing international concern; the fatalities that we’re seeing there are unacceptable”.

“There should be a ceasefire and the U.N. should lead the way in calling for that ceasefire.”

Their call came after meetings in London with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and senior UAE officials.

Slideshow (7 Images)

Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Saturday in Switzerland on the sidelines of Syria talks.

“It is a crisis now of enormous proportions with an increasing economic, increasing humanitarian and health crisis, and obviously the military components are troubling to everybody,” Kerry said.

He added that the release of two American prisoners by Yemen’s Houthi and the evacuation of Yemeni civilians wounded in a Saudi airstrike were “an important humanitarian gesture by the Saudis to address the humanitarian concern”. </s> The cessation of hostilities was due to start at noon (4 a.m. ET), it said.

The news agency said the ceasefire was "extendable" as long as Houthi militias and forces loyal to them abide by it.

The aim is to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to besieged areas, the news agency said, particularly Taiz City. But coalition forces will respond to any military movements from the opposing side, it said.

The truce is a response to efforts by the United Nations and the international community to bring peace to Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, UN special envoy for Yemen, welcomed the development in a statement Saturday, saying it "is necessary to avoid further bloodshed and destruction and should allow for the expanded delivery of humanitarian assistance." He urged all parties in Yemen and the region, as well as the international community, to respect the ceasefire "and to ensure that it leads to a permanent and lasting end to the conflict." He said both sides in the conflict had committed to sending representatives to talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at supporting the "cessation of hostilities" under terms agreed to in April. Ceasefires have been declared before in Yemen, but each time conflict has resumed. About 10,000 Yemenis have died and millions are in need of aid in a 20-month conflict that has been dubbed the " forgotten war ," because it has occurred in the shadows of the Syrian conflict. US Secretary of State John Kerry met with a Houthi delegation in Muscat, Oman, in a push to make progress on resolving the conflict, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters earlier this week. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, indicated a willingness to abide by the terms of the cessation of hostilities established in April, she said, provided other parties also stick to it. "We understand the Saudi-led coalition has also expressed a willingness to return to the cessation. Additionally, the Houthis accepted the UN-drafted road map as a basis for negotiations to end the conflict to work for the establishment of a new national unity government," she said. The Saudi Press Agency reported that the truce was declared on the basis of Saudi King Salman receiving a message from Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. The war in Yemen began in early 2015 when Houthi rebels -- a minority Shia group from the north of the country -- drove out the US-backed government and took over the capital, Sanaa. The country has become a proxy battleground between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Millions at risk of starvation in Yemen Millions at risk of starvation in Yemen A Saudi-led coalition, made up of several Arab countries, began a military campaign in March 2015 aimed at restoring the Yemeni government and preventing the Houthis and forces loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power. In August, peace talks failed, prompting an increase in airstrikes in the weeks that followed. Last month, the World Food Programme warned that millions were at risk of starvation in Yemen, saying "an entire generation could be crippled by hunger." UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien also gave a strongly worded statement to the UN Security Council in late October urging an immediate cessation of hostilities to save a generation of Yemenis from "humanitarian catastrophe." </s> Fighting continued in Yemen after a short lived ceasefire on the weekend was breached by Houthi rebels. The Saudi-led alliance also fired missiles during the ceasefire, but claimed they were in retaliation. The Saudis said the ceasefire will not be renewed.

John Kerry had announced that a peace proposal had been agreed to by both the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels a week before.

The Hadi government rejected the proposal, claiming that they had been bypassed and ignored by Kerry. The Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, have previously been supporting the Hadi government with air strikes.

But this disagreement signals a possible future loss of support, as informed sources say that Kerry plans to ease Hadi out of power.

Both the Houthi rebels and the Saudi coalition had agreed to a ceasefire and to send representatives to a de-escalation and coordinating committee. But Yemeni foreign minister al-Mehkhlafi wrote on Twitter that the U.S. government were coordinating with the Houthis without any involvement from the Yemeni government.

Fighting resumed for a week after the proposal was rejected, until a ceasefire was proposed on the weekend, which lasted less than a day.

Time is running out for Kerry as he is on presumably his last trip to Yemen, before President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

The Houthis have publicly stated after the rejection of the peace proposals that they want to end the fighting in Yemen, and have claimed that the Saudis are ready as well, although this wasn’t confirmed in Riyadh.

The peace proposals weren’t publicly available, although informed sources claimed that the plan was to transfer power from Hadi to the Vice President, who would then appoint a new Prime Minister.

A unity government was to be formed by all parties, including the Houthis, and equal representation was to be given to the North and the South.

The proposals were an explicit departure from the previous UN Security Council resolution 2216, which required the Houthi rebels to withdraw from territory gained since 2014. The new proposals would let the Houthis retain control of some cities gained since the fighting began two years ago.

The Yemeni civil war, which started in March 2014, is a significant security issue for the U.S., as a branch of Al-Qaeda, AQAP, has a strongbase in the war-torn country.

President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fled to the port city Aden at the beginning of the war, but as Houthi rebels approached he fled to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where he currently commands the government-in-exile. His government is supported financially and militarily by Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition have been accused of intentionally bombing civilian targets, like schools, hopsitals and funerals.

Some critics claim that the UK Government has been complicit in these war crimes, by continuing to allow BAE Systems, a British weapons manufacturer, to supply arms to Riyadh.

The Houthi rebels, who are supported financially by Iran, are suspected of abducting a journalist last month. Yousef Ajlan was abducted in October, and has not been seen since.

A press briefing at the U.S. State Department heard that the peace proposals are still being pursued, although Kerry has not had any direct conversations with President Hadi since. </s> Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, announced that a break from fighting between a pro-Yemeni coalition led by Saudi forces and Houthi rebels would begin just before midnight Wednesday -- at 23:59 local time.

According to Ahmed, the ceasefire terms call for humanitarian workers to have "free and unhindered access" so they can bring supplies to all parts of Yemen.

"[It] will spare the Yemeni people further bloodshed," Ahmed said.

Houthi rebels -- a minority Shia group from the north of the country -- drove out the US-backed government, led by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and seized the capital of Sanaa. Approximately 10,000 Yemenis have died while millions are in need of aid in a conflict that's been dubbed the " In early 2015,Houthi rebels -- a minority Shia group from the north of the country -- drove out the US-backed government, led by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and seized the capital of Sanaa. Approximately 10,000 Yemenis have died while millions are in need of aid in a conflict that's been dubbed the " forgotten war " given that it's occurred in the shadows of the Syrian conflict. Since then, the Saudi-led coalition, which includes several Arab countries, has launched a military campaign in Yemen against the Houthis, who have the support of Iran. Back in August, peace talks failed, prompting an increase in airstrikes over the past two months. This past weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry called for all sides to "move to the negotiating table" after diplomatic talks in London. In London with @BorisJohnson & @UN Special Envoy Ahmed, we call for all parties to implement a ceasefire in #Yemen as soon as possible. — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) October 16, 2016 Ahmed said the terms of the ceasefire are similar to one that occurred last April. The UN, which has attempted to resolve the crisis, said the door was left open for the ceasefire to be renewed for another 72 hours.
The Saudi-led military coalition and the Houthis (Ansar Allah) arrive at a ceasefire agreement effective as of 17 November 2016, as a result of talks led by US Secretary of State John Kerry with the region's leaders.