A United Nations-brokered ceasefire deal has come into effect in the strategic Yemeni city of Hodeidah, but reports say sporadic fighting is still taking place in the embattled port.
After a week of consultations in the Swedish town of Rimbo, representatives from the Houthi movement and the Saudi-UAE-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Thursday agreed to pull back their fighters to allow the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors. According to Yemeni officials and residents, intense fighting erupted in the final hours before the ceasefire took effect at midnight local time (21:00 GMT), with artillery shelling and heavy machine gun fire shaking districts in the south and east of the key city. The clashes between pro-government forces and Houthi rebels appeared to have subsided in the early hours of Tuesday as the truce was implemented. Yet, the intermittent sound of machine guns was reportedly still heard in parts of the city, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation. A pro-government official told AFP news agency that sporadic clashes were ongoing in the east of the city, which has been held by the Houthis since 2014.“Few expected the ceasefire to hold from the beginning – that’s why we’ve seen clashes in the eastern and southern parts for the past four days,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow, referring to the fighting and air raids that hit Hodeidah in the days following the agreement in Sweden. “And just moments after the ceasefire came into effect, residents said there was an exchange of gunfire and missiles in the eastern part of the city,” added Adow, who has covered Yemen’s conflict extensively.
Source: aljazeera.com
Friday, April 17, 2026
