Yemen announces ceasefire between army and rebel Houthis

A presidential mediation committee on Saturday managed to broker a suspension of hostilities between the Yemeni army and the Shia Houthi movement in the northern Yemeni province of Al-Jawf.

"An agreement for suspending confrontations between the two sides was signed today," Sheikh Mefreh Bohaibah, a member of the presidential mediation committee, told Anadolu Agency.

He said the two-phase agreement will include a total ceasefire in the first phase and also the handing in of positions captured by Houthi militants in the past days in the second phase.

Bohaibah said his committee would start implementing the first phase of the agreement on Sunday by removing barriers placed by the militants and the Yemeni army on the ground.

On 19 July, the presidential mediation committee succeeded in brokering an end to 20 days of hostilities between the Yemeni army and the Houthis in al-Jawf.

However, violence has yet again flared up between the two sides.

Al-Jawf is strategically important because it lies close to the eastern province of Maarib, the hub of Yemen's oil production.

Yemen has been dogged by turmoil since pro-democracy protests in 2011 forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 33 years in power.