Saba news agency confirmed on Sunday that mediators managed, after much tossing and turning to negotiate a ceasefire in between al-Ahamr tribesmen and Houthi militants in the northern province of Amran, located directly north of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.
The truce provisioned for the Houthis (Shiite group originally based in Sa’ada) to withdraw from Arhab, an area which lies north of Sana’a International Airport, and refrain from further engaging al-Ahmar tribesmen.
Ever since the end of October 2013, the Houthis, under the leadership of Abdel-Malek al-Houthi have launched an open war on Salafi militants and their affiliates on account they perceived the group as a direct threat to not only Yemen Shia Zaidi community but to an extent the nation as they alleged Salafi harbour links to dangerous radical terror groups in the region.
Although Salafi always denied any wrong doing, strictly rejected the notion they were training militants for combat in the security and privacy of their Dar al Hadith religious centre in Dammaj (Sa’ada province), the Houthis nevertheless moved against their militants, intent on driving them out of northern Yemen.
Now well into Hashid territory and into al-Ahmar’s fief (Yemen’s most prominent tribal clan), the Houthis’s recent advances have led them into the Amran province. For several weeks both the Houthis and al-Ahmar tribesmen have been engaged in a bitter battle for control which threatens to derail Yemen’s power transition.
For the enth time since October, President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi has managed to broker the terms of truce, hoping that this time it will stick. While President Hadi has so far refrained from deploying the armed forces, keen on diffusing the situation rather than escalating it, officials confirmed that troops would be deployed in certain areas as to guarantee that both factions will honour the terms of this truce and give mediator a chance to hash out a more permanent agreement.