Yemen’s Hodeida city is reported calm after the start of a UN-brokered ceasefire agreed in Sweden. The Red Sea port city, crucial for aid to feed starving civilians, had seen clashes even beyond a midnight deadline.
Hodeida residents and a government military source said calm was established around 3 a.m. local time Tuesday between Iran-aligned Houthi rebels controlling densely populated suburbs and Saudi-backed government forces.
The ceasefire in the rebel-held city and surrounding Hodeida region was agreed last Thursday in Sweden as an initial step in ending four years of civil war, with further talks due in late January.
Famine looms for the bulk of Yemen’s 29-million population, with 14 million in need of food aid in 2019, according to UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Local authorities are to run the city and the region’s three ports under UN supervision, with both sides required to withdraw fighters and not bring in reinforcements. A prisoner swap is also planned.