Aid mission to follow in wake of truce

SANAA, Yemen – With cargo ships poised to launch a desperately needed aid operation in embattled Yemen, a five-day humanitarian cease-fire began Tuesday night, just hours after Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck against Shiite rebels and their allies.

There were reports of continued ground fighting in some areas, with security officials and witnesses saying fierce combat broke out about a half hour after the cease-fire began when rebels tried to storm the southern city of Dhale, firing tank shells, rockets and mortars. But no airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels were reported.

The officials and tribal leaders also accused the rebels and their allies of reinforcing their positions.

The truce will test the adversaries’ desire to enter into peace talks to try to end the fighting that has killed hundreds of civilians since March. Both sides say they are ready to respond with violence if their opponent breaks the cease-fire.

Earlier Tuesday, Iran said it was sending warships to protect an Iranian aid ship steaming toward a Yemeni port held by the rebel fighters, the Iranian state news agency said. The navy escort was denounced by the Pentagon and Saudi Arabia as unnecessary, and raised the possibility of a confrontation near the strategic Bab el-Mandab .

The Saudi-led strikes in Yemen came to a halt shortly before the new U.N. envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, flew into the capital, Sanaa, on his first official visit to the country. He told reporters he planned to meet with the warring parties, including the rebels known as Houthis, and ensure that the cease-fire holds.

The cease-fire is meant to help ease the suffering of civilians in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

A U.N. Security Council statement Tuesday evening called on the secretary-general to convene U.N.-led talks on Yemen that would include all the parties, and it urged all stakeholders to take part. Officials have said the U.N. has not yet set a time and date for such talks.

Before the cease-fire began, security officials said airstrikes overnight, at dawn and during the morning hours Tuesday hit weapons depots and other military facilities north and south of Sanaa, a sprawling city of about 4 million people. The military air base that is part of the capital’s international airport also was targeted.

Fierce fighting between the rebels and forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi also raged in the strategic city of Taiz, southwest of the capital. The rebels and their allies shelled residential areas, with one shell hitting a bus, killing nine people and wounding 40, officials said. A coalition airstrike targeted the city’s al-Qahira castle, from where the shelling was launched, they said.

The Saudis and their allies are seeking the restoration of Hadi, who fled the country in March.

Meanwhile, a suspected U.S. drone strike hit a car, killing three al-Qaida fighters near Shabwa province, an area where the extremist group had been sending reinforcements.

Anticipating the truce, the U.N. refugee agency said it plans to airlift 330 tons of sleeping mats, blankets, kitchen sets and plastic sheeting from stockpiles in Dubai.

The agency also will attempt to distribute aid already stored in Yemen and assess the needs for areas that have been difficult to reach.

Separately, the U.N. World Food Program said it was ready to provide emergency food rations to more than 750,000 people.