Yemen's Huthi rebels unexpectedly
announced late Friday that they planned to halt all attacks on Saudi
Arabia as part of a peace initiative to end their country's devastating
conflict, five years after they captured the capital Sanaa.
The announcement comes after a wave of drone strikes last weekend on
Saudi oil installations knocked out half of the kingdom's production and
sent shock waves through energy markets.
The Iran-backed Huthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, but
Riyadh's ally Washington has condemned them as an "act of war", placing
the blame on Tehran and announcing new sanctions against the Islamic
republic.
Mehdi al-Mashat, head of the Huthis' supreme political council,
announced in a speech marking the 2014 rebel seizure of Sanaa "the halt
of all attacks against the territory of Saudi Arabia".
He added that he hoped "the gesture would be answered by a stronger
gesture" from the Saudis, according to the rebels' Al-Masirah television
channel.
"Pursuing war is not in anyone's interest."
Yemen's conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people -- most of
them civilians -- and driven millions more to the brink of famine in
what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
- 'Blood of Yemenis -
Mashat said the Huthis' peace initiative was aimed at "bringing about
peace through serious negotiations to achieve a comprehensive national
reconciliation which does not exclude anyone".
A major goal was to "preserve the blood of Yemenis and achieve a general amnesty", he added.
The plan calls for rebels to "stop all attacks on Saudi territory by drones, ballistic missiles and other means", he said.
He also called for the reopening of Sanaa's international airport and
open access to Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeida, a crucial entry point
for imports and humanitarian aid.
The announcement was a sharp reversal from previous statements from the
Huthis, who early on Friday had accused Saudi Arabia and its allies of
endangering the fragile truce around Hodeida with strikes on four rebel
targets north of the port.
The Huthis have been fighting against a Saudi-led coalition that
intervened in 2015 to support the country's internationally recognised
government.
Iran denies US and Saudi accusations that it arms the Huthis.
The rebels have repeatedly targeted key Saudi infrastructure in recent months in cross-border attacks.
The September 14 aerial attacks sparked fires at two Aramco oil
facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia knocking out six percent of global
supplies.
It is the third attack in five months on the oil giant's infrastructure,
after the Huthis also claimed strikes in May and August.
Saudi Arabia has so far not directly accused any party of carrying out
Saturday's attacks, but said authorities have launched an investigation
to determine the culprits.
Tehran has denied responsibility for the attacks against the heart of
Saudi's all-important oil industry, raising the spectre of "all-out war"
in the event of retaliatory measures by Washington or Riyadh.
The rhetoric has raised the risk of an unpredictable escalation in a
tinderbox region where Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a decades-old
struggle for dominance.
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