By Agence France-Presse
A high-ranking Yemeni rebel official urged his leadership Monday to freeze military operations and stop firing missiles into Saudi Arabia as the UN prepares for peace talks.
Yemeni pro-government forces cheer as they ride in the back of a pickup truck mounted with a machine gun in an industrial district in the eastern outskirts of the port city of Hodeida (AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi insurgents' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted that he also wants his group to announce "readiness to suspend and halt all military operations".
He called on "all (Huthi) official Yemeni sides to issue directives to end launching missiles and drones against aggression countries... in order to deprive them from any reason to continue their aggression and siege."
The rebels should be ready "to freeze and stop all military operations on all fronts" to achieve "a just and honourable peace," he added.
His comments came as UN special envoy Martin Griffiths is expected to visit the Yemeni capital of Sanaa this week to finalise arrangements for peace talks in Sweden.
Huthi rebels have controlled the capital Sanaa since capturing it in late 2014.
They have since fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which since 2015 has led a regional military coalition aiming to restore to power the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.