Sanaa--Yemen ceasefire efforts gathered pace Sunday after more than six weeks of Saudi-led air strikes, with rebels saying they would respond "positively" and their allies accepting a US-backed truce plan.
The renegade troops, who helped the Shiite Huthi rebels seize much of the country, said they had agreed to the five-day humanitarian truce starting Tuesday that Riyadh has offered.
The rebels did not refer explicitly to the Saudi offer, but expressed "readiness to deal positively with any efforts, calls or measures that would help end the suffering".
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia will not attend a US-Gulf leaders summit next week due to the ceasefire, instead sending his newly named Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef to lead the kingdom's delegation.
Salman will miss the meeting "due to the timing of the summit (and) the scheduled humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen," Saudi's embassy in Washington said in a statement.
Meanwhile in Yemen, a ship chartered by the UN's World Food Programme docked in the western port of Hodeida, bringing fuel the organisation said would help provide "a new humanitarian lifeline for civilians impacted by the conflict".
The MV Amsterdam brought 300,000 litres of fuel and supplies for humanitarian organisations, while a second vessel was due to deliver another 120,000 litres.
WFP Yemen director Purnima Kashyap said the fuel will mean aid can reach the "hundreds of thousands of people in need of urgent food assistance".
The United Nations has expressed deep concern about the civilian death toll from the bombing -- and estimated 1,400 people have died in the conflict since March -- and the humanitarian impact of the air and sea blockade Saudi Arabia and its allies have imposed on Yemen.
Coalition warplanes pounded the Huthis' Saada stronghold in the northern mountains for a second straight night Saturday after declaring the whole province a military target.
AFP
