Local Editor
The UN special envoy to Yemen is expected to arrive in the Yemeni city of Hodeida as part of his renewed push for peace, as sporadic fighting continued in the strategic port city.
Martin Griffiths is spearheading the biggest push in two years to get the warring parties to join the upcoming peace negotiations aimed at ending almost four years of devastating conflict.
The UN envoy arrived in the capital city of Sana’a on Wednesday, where he met the leaders of the Houthi revolutionaries, who have been in control of the Yemeni capital since 2014.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi's Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted on Thursday that he "hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition [Saudi-UAE] following Griffiths's visit to Hodeida".
Griffiths' planned visit to Hodeida, which has become the focus of the country's ongoing war, comes a day after US Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that talks would commence by early December in Sweden between Houthi revolutionaries and the resigned regime of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Earlier peace talks between the Hadi regime, supported by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthi Ansarullah movement collapsed in September after Houthis were not allowed to attend.
Last week, Griffith said that Yemen's parties had given "firm assurances" they are committed to attending peace talks to agree on a framework for peace under a transitional government.
But military officials say intermittent clashes have continued to erupt in the Red Sea city of Hodeida.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
