(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Arab coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen has announced a 48-hour ceasefire to begin at noon on Saturday.
There was no immediate response from the Houthis on whether or not they will accept the truce.
A Saudi-led military coalition declared the 48-hour truce to begin in Yemen on Saturday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
"It has been decided to begin a 48-hour ceasefire from 12:00 noon in Yemen's timing (0900 UTC) on Saturday," a coalition statement said
The statement added the truce could be extended if Houthis and their allies agree to the deal.
The announcement followed a ceasefire request by Yemen's exiled President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi who is based out of Riyadh.
There was no immediate news on whether the Houthis would agree to the latest truce.
The Ansarullah movement expressed its readiness to observe a ceasefire on Wednesday after US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saudi Arabia and the Houthis had agreed to observe a cessation of hostilities.
Saudi military spokesman Ahmed Asiri acknowledged in February that the kingdom was stuck in a “static war” against its southern neighbor.
While the war has proven big business for the US and the UK, it has taken a massive toll on the Saudi kingdom's economy.
The US military provides aerial refueling to Saudi bombers conducting airstrikes on Yemen. Washington has also been providing logistic and surveillance support to the kingdom in the bloody campaign.
The British government has been training Saudi pilots in both the oil-rich kingdom and Britain, The Independent daily revealed in October. London is also one of the biggest arms suppliers to Riyadh, including cluster bombs which have been used in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has come under international criticism for the sheer size of casualties and destruction which its war has brought on Yemen since March 2015. The war has killed at least 11,400 civilians, according to a recent tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.
In October, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said Saudi Arabia was using starvation as a tactic in its war against Yemen through its crippling blockade which the US helps to implement.
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