Yemen rebels welcome UN cease-fire call amid pandemic

SANAA (AA) – Yemen's Houthi rebels on Tuesday welcomed a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for humanitarian cease-fires around the world to help the fight against the novel coronavirus.

On Monday, Guterres pleaded with warring parties around the world to "put aside mistrust and animosity, silence the guns and stop the artillery and airstrikes".

Guterres' call "is important for rallying efforts of the international community in the fight against coronavirus", so-called Houthis' Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf Abdullah said in statements cited by the Houthi-run Saba news agency.

He voiced hope that the Saudi-led coalition "would respond positively to the UN call and end coalition airstrikes and lift the siege on the Yemeni people".

As the global death toll from coronavirus now tops 16,500, Yemen has not recorded any infection from the disease.

There was no comment from the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthi statements.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital of Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis, including civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis as millions remain at risk of starvation.

*Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara