The Houthis are demanding an end to the war and the lifting of the siege before negotiation and expanding their attacks near the Saudi border

Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam said that the solution in Yemen is based first on stopping the war and lifting the siege, then on conducting serious political negotiations. Local sources said that the Houthis launched an attack on the positions of the army forces in the Khub and Al-Sha`f district border with Saudi Arabia, which is affiliated with the Yemeni province of Al-Jawf.

Mohamed Abdel-Salam called in the tweet of the UN envoy Martin Griffiths to distance himself from what he called the suspicious agenda. He added that the road to political consultations requires an end to the aggression and an end to the siege, as he put it.

This statement comes at a time when the Houthis have expanded their attacks in the border province of Jouf with Saudi Arabia. Local sources said that the Houthis launched a new attack on the locations of the army forces in the Khub and Al-Sha`f district border with Saudi Arabia, days after they took control of the city of Al-Hazm, the administrative center of the province.

In the face of continued military confrontations in Al-Jouf, the UN envoy said that Yemen is going through a critical juncture, adding that either the fighting stops and the political process resumes, or Yemen slides again in a wide-ranging conflict and suffering.

Commenting on the progress of the Houthis in Al-Jawf Governorate, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani said that the Houthis' control of parts of Al-Jawf Province is not the end of the battle, and that the national army is able to regain the initiative.

Strong scales
Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher, an adviser to the president and former prime minister, had warned that the Houthi control of al-Jawf governorate recently had changed the balance of military power once and for all in the battle for the Houthis locally, and for Iran regionally.

Bin Dagher said that if the government and the coalition dealt with the situation in Al-Jawf, such as dealing with the Houthi control of the Nahham region, then this would mean the end of the coalition's role in Yemen.

In a related development, the Saudi-Emirati coalition in Yemen said that it had launched a qualitative operation in Al-Salif in Al Hudaydah Governorate (western Yemen) against Houthi military targets.

The coalition confirmed that it had destroyed sites to collect and launch booby-trapped boats and marches, which posed a threat to global shipping and trade lines in the Bab al-Mandab strait and the southern Red Sea.

On the other hand, the Houthi-affiliated media said that the Saudi-Emirati coalition aircraft launched a number of raids on the Ras Issa area in the Al-Salif District, and the Houthis considered that the raids constitute a clear violation of the Sweden agreement.