News of contact between Mashat and bin Salman .. Is it the beginning of the truce between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia?

Al Jazeera Net - Special

At one of the most important turning points in the relationship between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, Riyadh began talking directly to the group. Sources said that Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, brother of Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, was speaking directly with the The Supreme Political Council of the Houthis Mahdi Mashat.

A political source familiar with the island Net that a direct contact took place between the two days after the start of the unilateral truce declared by the Houthis in late September, which was announced by Mashat in an initiative that represented a real trend towards ending the war.

Joint Commission
According to the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, Mohammed bin Salman offered to form a committee from both parties to reduce the escalation, and to reach a full ceasefire agreement between the parties on the Saudi-Yemeni border.

Al Jazeera Net has tried to communicate with Houthi leaders to make sure that there is a direct contact between Mashat and Bin Salman, but all those we contacted refused to comment, and they did not deny that this happened.

A senior source in al-Houthi group told Al-Jazeera Net that "the Saudi initiative is positive but needs negotiations, agreement and other requirements," pointing out that the military operation that the Houthis revealed on the border in recent months or weeks was the active compressor in preparing the Saudi position.

The source again questioned the story of direct contact, but pointed to what he said was a Saudi offer to request a direct contact, saying, "Even if they offer contact do we believe them ?! Their purpose may be monitoring and targeting, we are still at war." "Originally, we wait, until they (the Saudis) prove that they are heading for peace first."

Reduce the level of conflict
As talk of a supposed truce escalates, parties in the Houthi group are still pushing for an escalation of hostility with the Saudis.

But the winds of change are not distracting the hopes of the hawkish wing of the Houthi group. The Yemeni war has witnessed significant changes at several levels, according to observers.

The head of the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies, Farea al-Musallami, said direct contact between the Saudis and the Houthis was one of many variables to reduce the level of conflict between the Houthis and Saudis.

The Muslim in an interview with the island Net that the war in Yemen will remain the status, and will change only on the Saudi-Yemeni border. He believes that the battles in Aden and the bombing of Aramco last month have made Saudi Arabia re-read the situation, and does not care at the same time that the decision to acknowledge defeat or not, what happened is much greater than expected.

According to al-Musallami, the inflamed border areas may see calm for years, but it will not change inside Yemen, in a sign that the Yemeni government led by President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi is completely excluded from this agreement.