Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesman for Ansarullah, said in a post on his official Twitter page on Sunday that Yemen has seen an escalation in fighting and airstrikes carried out by the coalition at the same time as the siege of Yemen continues.
“The declared ceasefire is deceitful and meant to mislead the world public opinion. If there were a serious intention and sheer willpower towards peace, the UN Security Council should have passed a formal resolution to stop the absurd war on Yemen and lift the unjust siege; rather it sufficed to a worthless statement in order to appease the (Saudi-led) alliance,” Abdul-Salam added.
On April 9, the senior Ansarullah official reiterated in an exclusive interview with the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television news network that the announced ceasefire was a publicity stunt.
“The ceasefire announcement by Saudi Arabia is a ploy indeed as it is pressing ahead with raids on Yemen, and conducts operations on various fronts, including areas where there were no clashes at all.”
He added, “The Saudi ceasefire is just a political and media maneuver. It pursues more than one goal. It seeks to undercut the ongoing serious negotiations with the United Nations and burnish the blood-stained image of Saudi Arabia in this critical moment when the world is facing the coronavirus pandemic.”
Army, allies thwart Saudi mercenaries’ attacks in central Yemen
Separately, the Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said army troops and allied fighters from the Popular Committees had fought off three armed attacks launched by militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in the central provinces of Ma’rib and Bayda.
Saree said in a brief statement that the mercenaries carried out two attacks against Yemeni army lines in the Qaniya district of Baydha, triggering hours of intense fighting in the area.
He added that another group of the Saudi-paid militiamen attempted to attack Yemeni army troops and their allies in the Sirwah district of Ma’rib.
Riyadh and its allies have been widely criticized for the high civilian death toll resulted from their bombing campaign in Yemen since early 2015.
At least 80 percent of the 28 million-strong population of Yemen is reliant on aid to survive in what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.