As part of the "phase one" of a ceasefire, the Houthi movement's unilateral withdrawal from the key ports began on Saturday, in the most significant advance yet for efforts to end the four-year-old war and relieve hunger.
Fresh fighting comes days after Yemeni government accused Houthi rebels of breaching ceasefire and refusing to withdraw from port city in line with December agreement.
Roman politician Marcus Tullius Cicero said: “Laws are silent in time of war.” Almost 2,000 years later, it is a phrase that serves to describe the behaviour of Saudi Arabia and its role in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
United Nations Security Council unanimously approves deployment of more observers in a mission to solidify a ceasefire between Houthi rebels and government forces in flashpoint port city.
Both sides in Yemen's devastating four-year war agreed to a series of confidence-building measures, including an exchange of thousands of prisoners.
Houthi rebels deny accusations of selling aid meant for civilians, saying the World Food Programme instead sent "rotten food" to the war-torn Arab country which "is not suitable for human consumption".
It is the first meeting of a UN-led truce monitoring team in the war-torn city after the warring sides agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire in the key port city.
The key port city was reported to be calm early on Wednesday, a day after a UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect. The UN plans to bring the warring factions together by videolink to discuss a force withdrawal from the city.
The Houthis were formed by Zaidite scholars, a Shia sect who have lived in Yemen for over a thousand years and also ruled the country for several centuries. Their rebellion against the Saudi-backed government began about a decade ago.
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal is a first major attempt to avert more bloodshed in the Red Sea port city, a vital lifeline for millions of people. Around 70 percent of humanitarian aid goes through the port.
The warning from the UN chief Antonio Guterres comes days after the world body brokered a ceasefire accord between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to end hostilities in the flashpoint port city of Hudaida.
The government and Houthi teams are in Sweden for talks expected to continue until the end of this week, the first since more than three months of negotiations collapsed in 2016.
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