The first redeployment of forces in Yemen's flashpoint city of al-Hodeidah could possibly begin later Tuesday (February 19th) or the following day, a UN envoy said, marking the first concrete step toward de-escalation in the war.
Yemen's government and the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) agreed on Sunday to the first phase of the pullback of forces, which is a key provision of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden, AFP reported.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that the sides had agreed to pull back from the Houthi-held ports of Saleef and Ras Issa followed by a redeployment from al-Hodeidah port, also held by the Houthis, and critical parts of the city.
"With the beginning, possibly even today or tomorrow, of the implementation of that part of the al-Hodeidah agreement, we now have the opportunity to move from the promise made in Sweden to hope now for Yemen," Griffiths told the council, speaking by video conference from Amman.
The pullback would also allow access in the coming days to the Red Sea Mills food warehouses, which are believed to contain enough grain to feed 2.7 million for a month, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock said.
The fragile Stockholm ceasefire deal for al-Hodeidah marks the first step toward ending a devastating war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
