1st fuel tanker arrives at Hudaydah after Yemen truce

SANAA, Yemen (AA) – A fuel tanker docked at the Hudaydah port in western Yemen on Sunday, the first since a UN-brokered truce took effect a day earlier, according to Houthi rebels.

Essam al-Motwakel, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Oil Company in Sanaa, said a vessel carrying mazut, a low quality fuel, arrived at the Hudaydah port after being withheld for 88 days.

He said three other fuel ships are still withheld, but didn't give further details.

A two-month truce brokered by UN special envoy Hans Grundberg came into force in war-torn Yemen on Saturday.

Under the deal, all air, ground and maritime attacks by Houthi rebels, government forces and the Saudi-led coalition will be halted.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition, which seeks to reinstate the Yemeni government, has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises. Nearly 80%, or about 30 million people, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar