The leader of the Yemeni Houthi group, Mahdi Al-Mashat, announced that the group is not against extending the current truce brokered by the United Nations, at a time when Saudi Arabia called for international pressure on this group to engage in peace.
Al-Mashat stressed - in a speech broadcast by the Houthi "Al Masirah" channel - that the group is not against the truce, "but what is not possible is accepting any truce in which the suffering of our people continues."
He called for what he described as genuine and encouraging cooperation conducive to improving the humanitarian and economic benefits of any truce.
The two-month truce between the Houthis and the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE entered into force on April 2, and has largely held.
The United Nations is seeking to extend this armistice, which is the first between the two sides since 2016, to pave the way for comprehensive political negotiations aimed at ending the war that has been burning for seven years, which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
For its part, Saudi Arabia called, on Saturday, for international and international pressure on the Houthi group to engage in peace efforts in Yemen.
Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi deputy defense minister, said on his Twitter account: I met in Washington with the US special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, and we discussed the Yemeni issue and its developments.
Bin Salman, who is currently on a visit to Washington, added that he assured the US envoy of the coalition's support for the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and its supporting entities, expressing his aspiration for the Yemenis to reach a comprehensive political solution that would move the country to peace and development.
He stressed that despite the largely positive announced truce, there is an important role for the United Nations and the international community to play, to pressure the Houthi militias to open Taiz roads, deposit the revenues of the Hodeidah port, and seriously engage in peace efforts, so that Yemen can move to security and stability.
For more than 7 years, Yemen has witnessed a continuous war between forces loyal to the legitimate government, backed by an Arab military alliance led by the neighboring Saudi Arabia, and the Houthis, who have controlled governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.