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“Over the past two weeks, what we witnessed ran counter to what was declared since there were upticks in bombardments as well as escalation (of clashes) on all fronts by the alliance,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Saturday.

The remarks came a day after the Saudi-led military coalition decided to “extend the ceasefire for a month,” according to its spokesman Turki al-Maliki, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

A two-week ceasefire in Yemen announced earlier by the alliance expired on Thursday, without leading to a permanent truce.

Violence continued in several provinces, including Ma’rib, a stronghold of Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, throughout the period.

Aid groups worry that persisting fighting in the war-torn country could cause a catastrophe, and further undermine its already weakened ability to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Yemen reported its first coronavirus case earlier this month in the oil-producing southern province of Hadhramaut, which is under the control of Saudi-sponsored Hadi loyalists.

The supreme national emergency committee for COVID-19 in Yemen said on April 10 the infected patient was identified in the port town of Ash Shihr, and he was in stable condition and receiving care.

Separately, the president of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Mohammad al-Mashat, described the comprehensive solution plan submitted by the Houthi Ansarullah movement on a nationwide ceasefire and cessation of the ongoing Saudi-led blockade as promising and a practical way out of Yemen’s conflict.

“The peace initiative that we announced on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 21 Revolution is still standing,” Mashat said in an exclusive interview with Arabic-language al-Thawra (Revolution) daily newspaper published on Saturday, stressing that Yemeni forces reserve the right to respond to any act of aggression.

On April 9, Ansarullah presented to the United Nations a comprehensive peace plan aimed at ending the conflict in Yemen.

The plan reportedly consists of three pivotal issues: it demands a ceasefire and a complete halt to the Saudi-led onslaught, the abolition of the tight blockade imposed on Yemen, adoption of economic and humanitarian measures, and initiation of the inter-Yemeni political process.

Mashat further noted that they were in touch with Saudi Arabia as they “will not close any door that leads to peace,” but stressed, “We will not make concessions that would threaten the sovereignty of our country.”

He highlighted that Yemen welcomes friendly and cordial relations with all world countries, and wishes for a lasting and comprehensive peace.

Mashat said the United Nations is providing cover for the Saudi-led coalition of aggression and doing nothing to alleviate the repercussions of the economic war on Yemen, calling on Russia and other major world powers to play their roles and safeguard international treaties.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years.

More than half of Yemen’s hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed during the war by the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported militarily by the UK, US, and other Western nations.

At least 80% of the 28 million-strong population is also reliant on aid to survive in what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

According to the UN’s top aid official, Mark Lowcock, civilian casualties have risen every month since January.

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Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Saturday that the Saudi-led coalition and its mercenaries continue to flout the agreement and keep on implementing escalation steps in the strategic Red Sea port city of Hudaydah, stressing that such actions will have dire repercussions.

“While our forces committed to implementing the Stockholm agreement and adopted unilateral measures such as redeployment (of forces) from Hudaydah ports, observation of the ceasefire and maintaining the flow of aid convoys among other steps, the coalition of aggression and its proxies are delaying the implementation of the accord,” Saree said, according to Press TV.

He noted that the al-Durayhimi district of Hudaydah province is still under siege by the Saudi-led alliance and its mercenaries, and the forces have been preventing the entry of food supplies and medicine destined for the besieged citizens for nearly a year.

Saree highlighted that the continued violation of Hudaydah truce has so far resulted in the deaths of 175 people, including 63 children, 27 women, and 85 men. Another 481 civilians, including 169 children, 97 women, and 215 men, have sustained injuries as well.

The senior Yemeni military official then held the United Nations and the Security Council responsible for the escalation of the situation in Hudayda.

“Our forces are ready to respond to any folly or escalator step. The coalition aggression and its mercenaries will have to bear the brunt then,” Saree emphasized.

Ansarullah delegates and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi loyalists held a round of peace negotiations in Rimbo, north of the Swedish capital city of Stockholm, last December. The talks resulted in the announcement of a break-through agreement.

The document includes three provisions: a ceasefire along the Hudaydah front and the redeployment of armed forces out of the city and its port; an agreement on prisoner exchange; and a statement of understanding on the southern Yemeni city of Ta’iz.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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In remarks on Wednesday, Seyed Abbas Mousavi dismissed the statement issued at the 40th summit of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council, known as PGCC, and certain anti-Iran comments made at the summit in Riyadh.

“The repetition of groundless allegations in that statement results from the political pressures from a few members of the council, which have made every effort during the past couple of decades to prevent promotion of multilateral cooperation,” the Iranian spokesperson said.

“With their short-sightedness throughout these years, not only have they (certain PGCC members) allowed for the plunder of the neighboring countries’ wealth, but they have also paved the way for further interference from aliens in this region, especially Iran,” Mousavi deplored.

“A small number of the council’s members are willing to ruin opportunities for cooperation, provided by our country for the purpose of creating security and stability in the region, by keeping up their unwise policies,” the Iranian diplomat said, urging other regional countries to stand against such policies.

Highlighting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s responsible behavior over the past years, Mousavi referred to proposing a non-aggression pact, the Regional Dialogue Forum, and ultimately the Hormuz Peace Endeavor as just part of Iran’s efforts for materialization of regional cooperation.

The spokesperson then called on the few countries supporting the continuation of unwise policies in the region to explain to the region’s public opinion what measures they have taken to ease regional tensions other than creating and strengthening terrorist and Takfiri groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, or allowing aliens in the Persian Gulf.

“The countries whose irresponsible meddling in other countries has led to the massacre of innocent citizens, from women and children to the elderly, and has resulted in the spread of insecurity and terrorism in the region, are attempting to evade the consequences of and international punishment for the blatant violation of international laws and their war crimes by pinning the blame on others,” Mousavi said.

The spokesperson further underlined that the three islands of the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa are indispensable and eternal part of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s territories, adding, “Our country regards any claim on those islands as interference in its internal affairs and its territorial boundaries, and strongly condemns it.”

“All activities by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the (three) islands have been in line with the country’s inalienable rights and in compliance with its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he stated, adding, “Repetition of such meddlesome stances in any shape is categorically rejected, and has not had and will not have any impact on the legal and historical realities on the ground.”

Slamming the PGCC’s reaction to a reduction of Iran’s JCPOA commitments as a “historical irony”, the spokesman said, “The countries that invested all of their efforts and capital in the failure of the JCPOA are now opposing Iran’s legitimate measures.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also strongly condemned the PGCC statement’s brazen support for the US economic terrorism against the great Iranian nation, saying such support runs counter to the policy of good-neighborliness.

“Many of the bogus and repetitious claims in that (PGCC) statement do not merit a response,” Mousavi went on to say, expressing hope that those PGCC members would shift their policies and opt for cooperation instead of making such provocative remarks which only result in the continuation of the current destructive trend and which steer the region towards a vague future.

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The decision will have far-reaching impacts, including grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students.

The Pentagon has also ordered a broad review of vetting procedures for international students who participate in training on US military installations and demanded the process be strengthened, according to the Guardian.

The memo signed by the deputy defense secretary, David Norquist, said the review of the vetting must be completed in 10 days, and the flight restrictions will continue throughout the review and until they are lifted by senior leaders.

There are about 850 Saudi students currently in US military training programs, according to the Pentagon. US officials said they aren’t sure how many of those would see some type of flight or other restrictions, but many will.

The FBI has said US investigators believe the Saudi air force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, acted alone when he attacked a US navy base in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, before he was fatally shot by a deputy sheriff.

The shootings have again raised questions about the US military relationship with Saudi Arabia, which has come under heightened scrutiny over the war in Yemen and Saudi Arabia’s killing of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

Still, US military leaders have sought to portray this as a localized issue that would not affect the overall US-Saudi relationship.

The US navy spokeswoman Lieutenant Andriana Genualdi said the safety standdown and operational pause began on Monday for Saudi Arabian aviation students.

She said the grounding included three different military facilities: Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field and Naval Air Station Mayport, all in Florida. The US air force said its groundings of Saudi aviation students also applied to additional US bases.

“Given the traumatic events, we feel it is best to keep the Royal Saudi Air Force students off the flying schedule for a short time,” the air force spokeswoman said.

The US defense secretary, Mark Esper, has dismissed suggestions that the shootings might make him more reluctant about new US deployments to Saudi Arabia, which were announced in October and first reported by Reuters.

“Saudi Arabia is a longstanding partner of ours in the region. We share mutual security interests,” Esper said over the weekend.

Esper said he had instructed the armed forces to review both security at military bases and screening for foreign soldiers who come to the United States for training after the shooting.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from the Popular Committees, intercepted and targeted an unmanned drone belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition while flying in the skies over Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Najran.

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Qatar’s Emir named Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani to lead the Qatari delegation to the summit of the 40th Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) summit, the official Qatar News Agency reported.

Sheikh Abdullah will be the most senior Qatari official to attend the gathering of Persian Gulf leaders since the emir attended a 2017 summit held in Kuwait, at which Riyadh and its allies sent more junior officials.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and NON-PGCC Egypt cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar in June 2017 over allegations of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the accusations and says the boycott aims to impinge on its sovereignty.

Last week, Qatar’s foreign minister told a conference in Rome that the crisis has “moved from stalemate to progress”. He also admitted that talks had taken place between Doha and Riyadh but did not provide further details.

Some observers said the summit could pave the way for a “reconciliation conference”.

Others remain sceptical, saying Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s written invitation to Sheikh Tamim was only following protocol.

Qatar’s prime minister attended a series of talks in Saudi Arabia in May, one of the first high-level contacts of the two-year boycott.

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