The Houthi group said that political contacts are continuing with Riyadh, but they have not made progress towards ending the war in Yemen, and have spoken of intense raids by the Saudi-Emirati coalition, despite announcing the extension of the truce announced by him for a month.

The head of the Supreme Political Council of the group, Mahdi Al-Mashat, revealed that there are continuous contacts with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In an interview published today, Saturday, by Al-Thawra newspaper published in Sana'a, Al-Mashat said that his group has many and continuous contacts with the Saudi-Emirati alliance and several international destinations, and that these contacts go through tidal periods depending on the development of events, but they are continuing.

The Houthi leader added that contacts with Saudi Arabia will not produce positive results unless the coalition follows its words with deeds as he put it.

Truce faltered
After the truce that came into effect on the ninth of this month faltered, Reuters quoted sources as saying that Saudi Arabia has resumed indirect talks with the Houthi group in order to establish a permanent ceasefire.

Before that, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Muhammad Al Jaber, revealed at the end of March that the kingdom was holding daily talks with the Houthis to end the war that has lasted for more than five years.

The Houthis had rejected the truce announced by Riyadh and described it as a maneuver, noting that it was intended to obstruct a comprehensive initiative the group presented to the United Nations to stop the war.

The group also said that the continued blockade imposed by the Saudi-Emirati coalition on Yemen means the continuation of the war.

61497043180017acc1c6b-ef76-4e5e-a823-3e2d5c6b732c6e63c5b6-3135-44c6-8be7-24ab4b92d875
video

No truce

The Saudi-Emirati alliance announced yesterday to extend the truce for a month, and said that the decision came at the request of international envoy Martin Griffiths to allow the opportunity to make progress in negotiations on a permanent ceasefire, and to resume the political process.

However, the Houthi group responded - according to the leader Mohammed Al-Bakhiti - by saying that there was no truce until Saudi Arabia extended it.

Simultaneously, Yahya Sari, a military spokesman for the Houthi group, said yesterday that coalition aircraft carried out 35 raids in separate areas of Marib, Saada, and Makhiras.

Sari'a said that the Houthis and the popular committees had responded to the wide march of this coalition forces from two paths towards their locations in the Ragwan District in Ma'rib Governorate.

The Houthis had said that the truce, which was supposed to be in effect since the ninth of this month, remained a dead letter, and they spoke of a continuous air escalation by the coalition accompanied by ground attacks, especially the border areas between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.