Yemen army, Houthis welcome Saudi ceasefire proposal

The Yemeni army and the Shia Houthi rebel group on Sunday welcomed a five-day humanitarian truce proposed by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, which leads a nine-country coalition forces against the Houthi group, announced on Friday a halt to air strikes in Yemen for five days beginning on Tuesday, as the air raids and battles have caused a worsening humanitarian crisis, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We welcome the five-day humanitarian truce announced by the Saudi foreign minister (Adel al-Jubeir) that will start on Tuesday," Houthi spokesman Hussein al-Ezzy said.

"Based on the efforts of some brotherly and friendly countries to impose a humanitarian truce, to pause the brutal siege and allow commercial vessels and humanitarian aid access to Yemeni ports, we declare our agreement with this humanitarian truce, which is to begin on Tuesday," Yemen army spokesman Colonel Sharaf Ghaleb Lukman said.

The air raid campaign was intensified since Saturday after Houthi fighters shelled the border areas and killed civilians in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia threatened to target Houthi leaders and warned civilians in Saada province of intensified bombing.

The Saudi-led coalition forces launched on March 26 the bombing campaign against the Shia Houthi group and forces loyal to former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.