Local Editor
The Saudi-led coalition waging a war on Yemen said on Monday it would prefer a broad political settlement to a ceasefire.
"I think now it’s not a question of talking about a ceasefire," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri told AFP.
Late on Sunday, the head of the new Yemeni council, Saleh al-Sammad, proposed on Sunday a truce on the country’s border with Saudi Arabia.
Assiri said the coalition welcomes "any effort to have a genuine political settlement" under a peace initiative proposed last month by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
This is preferable to a "short ceasefire without any control, without any observation", he said.
Previous truces in the 18-month war collapsed after continuous and deadly strikes by the Saudi-led coalition, which prompted the Yemeni army and the popular committees of Ansarullah revolutionaries to respond by firing rockets on Saudi border areas.
"If they want to have a ceasefire they know what they have to do," Assiri said, referring to terms of the Kerry plan which were to be refined under United Nations mediation among the parties.
Saudi Arabia began its deadly campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes were meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
About 10,000 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
