Yemen’s Ansarullah dismiss Pompeo’s accusations of Hudaydah truce breach

A senior Yemeni official has hit back at US Secretary of State Mike Pomepo over his recent allegations that Ansarullah fighters are violating the UN-brokered ceasefire in the Hudaydah port city, criticizing Washington for keeping up its support for the Saudi-led war on the impoverished nation.

In a post on his Twitter account on Monday night, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen's Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said that “Pompeo’s accusations are refuted by the steps of redeployment at the port of Hudaydah and the submission of positive proposals.”

Speaking in Riyadh on Monday, the top US diplomat claimed that the Ansarullah had “chosen” not to comply with the Hudaydah truce.

“The work that was done in Sweden on Yemen was good, but both sides need to honor those commitments,” Pompeo said after talks with Salman bin Abdulaziz Ale Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “To date, the Houthis have chosen not to do that.”

The Ansarullah official said that the US administration “has refused to stop supporting the war despite the congressional decision,” referring to the US Senate's vote last month to end American military assistance for the Saudi aggression against Yemen.
Representatives from the Ansarullah movement and militants loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed former regime reached the Hudaydah ceasefire during peace talks in Sweden last month. They agreed to the withdrawal of their forces and deployment of UN monitors to the port city, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

Hudaydah has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the ongoing Saudi-led offensive since March 2015. Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, including the UAE, launched the devastating military campaign against Yemen to bring the Riyadh-backed former fugitive government back to power.

The invaders have, however, failed to achieve their objective in the face of Yemenis’ resistance.

EA