On Saturday, the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition declared a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen. Yours truly decided not to write about that at the time, because fool me (well, fool me twice, technically)…you can’t get fooled again, you know? So, about that:
Yemen’s Houthi group carried on fighting across Yemen on Monday despite a ceasefire announcement by its Saudi-led foes, and media controlled by the Iran-allied movement acknowledged that its forces had shelled targets inside Saudi Arabia.
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The Arab coalition fighting the Houthis had announced a five-day truce from 11:59 p.m. (4.59 p.m. ET) on Sunday to allow in emergency aid amid severe shortages of fuel, food and medicine.
But the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported Houthi forces shelled the northerly al-Tawal region on the Saudi border hours after the truce was meant to have started, and that Saudi forces had retaliated.
Now admittedly, it was the Houthis who broke the ceasefire, but on the other hand, it seems like they may never have agreed to it in the first place:
A senior Houthi official said his side had not been formally notified of any ceasefire by the United Nations.
Ceasefires, coming as they often do in the middle of a situation where at least two hostile sides are firing on each other, generally can’t be imposed unilaterally. Unless the hostile parties here find a way to overcome all the obstacles and actually start talking to each other, there’s no end — temporary or permanent — in sight for this war.
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