- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
- One year later, Israeli hostage family learns of loss
- Texans receiver Collins, Pats' safety Peppers out for NFL clash
- Biden-Netanyahu talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- Musk's X available again in Brazil after 40-day ban
- Reddy stars as India crush Bangladesh to clinch T20 series
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- Arch rivals Ghana, Nigeria drawn together in CHAN qualifying
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Trump lauds India's Modi as 'total killer'
- Wall Street, Europe rise as Chinese shares tumble
- Hunkering down for Hurricane Milton at Disney -- but first, a few rides
- Reddy, Rinku power India to 221-9 in second Bangladesh T20
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- The long walk for water in the parched Colombian Amazon
- Biden-Netanyahu to talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- France vows to step up drugs fight after police vehicles torched
- Air France says jet flew over Iraq during Iran attack on Israel
- Activists target Picasso work to protest Israel arms sales
- Let 'Emily in Paris' remain in Paris, Macron says
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Record-breaking Root helps England dominate Pakistan in first Test
- German govt sees economy shrinking again in 2024
- Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Three Kosovo Serbs on trial over 'secession plot' attack
- Van Gogh museum to launch Impressionism show
RBGPF | -2.48% | 59.33 | $ | |
SCS | 1.92% | 13.03 | $ | |
GSK | 5.54% | 40.25 | $ | |
BP | -0.16% | 31.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.44% | 65.61 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.65% | 24.48 | $ | |
AZN | 0.82% | 77.505 | $ | |
BTI | 0.72% | 35.475 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.01% | 6.9 | $ | |
RELX | 0.12% | 46.695 | $ | |
RIO | -0.47% | 66.35 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.29% | 24.78 | $ | |
VOD | 0.72% | 9.73 | $ | |
BCE | -0.57% | 33.32 | $ | |
BCC | 0.21% | 142.32 | $ | |
JRI | 0.34% | 13.205 | $ |
Yemen rebels call truce after wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia
Yemen's Huthi rebels announced a three-day truce with the Saudi-led coalition and dangled the prospect of a "permanent" ceasefire on Saturday, the seventh anniversary of a brutal conflict that has left millions on the brink of famine.
A day after a wave of Huthi drone and missile attacks on Saudi targets, including an oil plant that turned into an inferno near the Formula One race in Jeddah, political leader Mahdi al-Mashat put rebel operations on hold.
As thousands of people marched in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, to mark the anniversary, Mashat appeared on TV to announce the "suspension of missile and drone strikes and all military actions for a period of three days".
"And we are ready to turn this declaration into a final and permanent commitment in the event that Saudi Arabia commits to ending the siege and stopping its raids on Yemen once and for all," he said.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia, which retaliated to Friday's attacks by launching air strikes against Sanaa and Hodeida and destroying four explosives-laden boats.
Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country even before the war, has been teetering on the brink of catastrophe for years as the complex conflict rages on multiple fronts.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, directly or indirectly, and millions have been displaced in what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
- 'Peace will come' -
Mashat said the Huthis are ready to "release all coalition prisoners, including (president Abdrabbuh Mansur) Hadi's brother, militia prisoners and other nationalities in exchange for the full release of all our prisoners".
"The Saudi regime must prove its seriousness... by responding to a ceasefire, lifting the siege and expelling foreign forces from our country.
"And then peace will come and then it will be time to talk about political solutions in a calm atmosphere away from any military or humanitarian pressure."
The Iran-backed rebels' surprise move came exactly seven years after the Saudi-led coalition's intervention to support Yemen's government, after the Huthis seized Sanaa in 2014.
After months of negotiations, Iran is near to reviving a stalled deal with international partners where it will curb its nuclear ambitions in return for an easing of sanctions.
When it first intervened in Yemen on March 26, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition was made up of nine countries.
Today, it is largely just Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, the United Arab Emirates, which says it withdrew troops from Yemen but remains an influential partner.
The coalition's intervention has stopped the Huthis' advances in the south and east of the country but has been unable to push them out of the north, including the capital Sanaa.
"Militarily, the war is now at stalemate," Elisabeth Kendall, a researcher at Oxford University, told AFP this week, adding that Saudi Arabia "may at this point be keen to extract itself" from Yemen.
"But it needs to be able to position any withdrawal as a win and to ensure that it is not left with a Huthi-controlled enemy state on its southern border," she said.
O.M.Souza--AMWN