Saudi warplanes tend to kill a few dozen people in Yemen on any given day, and despite the newly minted ceasefire today was no different, with Saudi warplanes pounding Houthi targets in several provinces across Yemen. The Saudis did not deny this.
Rather, Saudi officials say they were “responding” to Houthi hostility and that if anything their airstrikes proved that the Houthis are not to be trusted in the ongoing peace talks in Geneva. The UN has a total blackout on media coverage at the talks, so there is needless to say no news there.
Still, fighting on the ground has slowed, if not totally stopped, so there is some relative calm in some parts of Yemen. Saudi officials, however, say this too could “collapse at any moment” with a full resumption of hostilities.
A prisoner swap between the two sides, meant to be a confidence-building measure, was also halted by armed tribesmen in the Bayda Province, who blocked access to the site of exchange, demanding that their own tribesmen also be released in the deal.
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