Yemen's Houthis Say Negotiations With Saudi Arabia Progressing

Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, said on Friday progress had been reached at negotiations with Saudi Arabia, which took place in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa over the past six days

DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2023) Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, said on Friday progress had been reached at negotiations with Saudi Arabia, which took place in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa over the past six days.

"Delegations have finished their negotiation work in Sanaa after serious and positive discussions and progress on some issues, with the hope of completing discussions on outstanding issues at a later date," top Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdessalam said on Twitter.

He also thanked the mediators from Oman for their efforts in helping delegations find solutions to disputed issues.

The parties discussed a ceasefire in Yemen and the start of a comprehensive political process.

At the same time, a Yemeni diplomatic source told Sputnik that the parties agreed to hold another round of negotiations after the end of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Earlier this month, a Yemeni diplomatic source told Sputnik that the Houthis and the Yemeni government had reached an agreement to extend the truce for six months.

The previous truce expired in October 2022, but the parties were not able to reach an agreement on its extension immediately afterward because of the Houthis' demand that the government allocate to them part of the revenues from oil and gas sales from government-controlled territories.

The Houthis and the Yemeni government started a three-day UN-supervised prisoner exchange earlier on Friday.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces and the Houthi rebels since 2014. The situation was exacerbated in March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition, working in cooperation with the internationally-recognized Yemeni government, began conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis. The latter have retaliated by attacking Saudi forces and firing missiles into Saudi Arabia.