ADEN, Yemen, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Houthi group in Yemen on Tuesday accused the pro-government forces of engaging in dozens of aggressions against the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
The group's announcement, which was posted on its website, came one day after Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Rashad Al-Alimi accused the Houthi group of mobilizing and recruiting soldiers despite a recent truce brokered by the United Nations (UN).
During a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh on Monday, Al-Alimi warned that the Houthi group's ongoing military mobilization actions pose a real threat to the international efforts aimed at extending the UN-brokered truce that will end in August.
The Houthi group is taking advantage of the "international leniency" to gain more time for its military operations, Al-Alimi told Grundberg, who briefed Al-Alimi on his talks with the Yemeni warring factions, the official Saba news agency has reported.
Al-Alimi urged the international community to exert more pressure on the Houthis to end their siege on the city of Taiz and open the main roads around the government-held city to alleviate its humanitarian crisis.
Taiz has been under siege since the civil war broke out in Yemen in late 2014. Lifting the blockade would make it easier for people to move around and receive humanitarian aid.
Residents of Taiz have staged protests repeatedly to demand a quick end to the siege and the removal of landmines from the main roads around the city.
Ending the Taiz siege is the last major term to be fulfilled under the agreement reached by the country's warring parties before entering the ceasefire in April.
Since April 2, the warring parties in Yemen have been abiding by a nationwide ceasefire. Although the truce has largely been upheld, the internationally recognized government and the Houthi group frequently swap claims of violations.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the country to the brink of starvation. ■
