1 week after truce declaration: Yemeni president steps down, passes on duties to presidential council

CAIRO – 7 April 2022: Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi stepped down Thursday passing on his duties to a presidential council. He also dismissed his deputy to pave the way for the revival of negotiations that stalled for seven years, as reported by Reuters.

After Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, announced his decision, Saudi Arabia pledged a financial aid worth $3 billion to Yemen. It also called for the council, consisting of eight members, to hold talks with Houthis, who control the northern part of the country, and who carried out attacks against different facilities on Saudi territories.

On April 1, a nationwide two-month truce was agreed between the warring parties in Yemen, which would allow the entry of oil imports into Houthi strongholds and increasing flights from Sanaa airport.

U.N. Special Envoy Hans Grundberg stated that the truce, which is the first of its kind since 2016, can be renewed, if there is congruence among the parties involved. It is noted that the truce began Saturday which marked the first day of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The ceasefire is expected to relieve Yemenis from suffering for a while, as 80 percent of the population relies on aid amid a collapse of all necessary services, including healthcare.

The deal provides the suspension of all military operations, including cross-border ones, and permitting tankers transporting fuel into Houthi-held Hodeidah port as well as the landing and take-off of commercial flights at Sanaa International Airport "to predetermined destinations in the region," according to Reuters.

A week before the declaration of the truce, Houthis admitted standing behind the drone attacks that targeted Aramco's petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah, causing a fire in two storage tanks with no casualties.

Other major attacks carried out by Houthis earlier in 2022 are the launching of ballistic missiles against both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, so as the Iran-backed group fired two ballistic missiles toward the UAE and a third toward Saudi Arabia's Jazan.

Moreover, three fuel tanks at Abu Dhabi airport were blasted by drones launched by Yemen's Houthi militia, which declared it stands behind the attack, incurring three deaths, and six injuries.

Abu Dhabi police announced that the fire had been contained, and that the victims are two Indians and a Pakistani.