RIYADH: Military pressure from the Arab coalition forced the Iranian-led Houthis to come to the negotiating table, said Col. Turki Al-Maliki.
Addressing a weekly press conference in Riyadh on Monday, the coalition spokesman said the UN and the international community are responsible for the implementation of the Stockholm agreement. Now the onus lies on the Houthis to implement the deal, Al-Maliki added.
The Sweden agreement emphasizes the efforts of Saudi Arabia and the coalition to achieve peace in the war-torn country.
He said the coalition wants to ensure durable peace in Yemen. Warning the Houthis against any violation of the agreement, Al-Maliki said there are committees monitoring the situation in Hodeidah.
Houthi violations
Al-Maliki said the Houthi militia had violated international humanitarian law by indiscriminately planting maritime mines that threaten global maritime and commercial lines in the southern Red Sea. Ninety maritime mines have been detected and destroyed in the Red Sea since the beginning of a mine-clearing operation. The Houthi militia violations also included the bombing of civilian houses in Hodeidah.
The Iranian-backed terrorists have fired 208 ballistic missiles toward the Kingdom between March 26, 2015, and Dec. 17, 2018.
Humanitarian operations
Several relief ports are open for Yemen (air, sea, land), and the total number of maritime permits issued by the Joint Forces Command from March 26, 2015, to Dec. 16, 2018, is 4,944.
12,691 air and 1,192 land permits were issued during the same period. Permits and orders to secure the movement of relief organizations inside Yemen during the period from Dec. 10 to Dec. 17 reached 281. Humanitarian aid is also flowing into Yemen as part of the ongoing humanitarian operations.
The Yemeni National Army has also made some efforts to take control of the Houthi militias’ weapons and ammunition depots.
Operational objectives
Forces fighting the Iranian-backed Houthis destroyed 210 weapons and equipment depots of the militia between Dec. 10 and Dec. 17. The number of Houthi terrorists killed during different operations has reached 589.
