(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemeni rebels since March declared a five-day truce yesterday so aid can reach a country the UN says is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.
Announcing unilateral truce from Sunday midnight, a statement by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the coalition reserved the right to respond to "military activity or movement" by the Shia Houthi rebels during the ceasefire.
The decision was taken at the request of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who has taken refuge in the Saudi capital with much of his government.
Hadi, whose supporters have recaptured most of the southern port of Aden from the rebels after four months of war, wanted the truce for the "delivery and distribution of the maximum amount of humanitarian and medical aid," SPA said.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRS) warned that civilian suffering has reached "unprecedented levels".
The aid group said intensifying violence in the south was hamstringing emergency medical aid, voicing concern over worsening clashes in the provinces of Taez and Aden.
"The suffering of the civilian population has reached unprecedented levels," ICRC mission chief in Yemen Antoine Grand said in a statement. In Aden and Taez, "it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to reach affected areas, evacuate the dead and the wounded and provide life-saving assistance," Grand added.
ICRS urged pro-Hadi forces and the Iran-backed rebels and their allies to let humanitarian groups work. It warned that, as the fighting escalated, so did "shortages of water, food and fuel across the country".
A boat chartered by Red Cross and loaded with humanitarian supplies docked in Aden on Thursday. ICRC insisted that aid should not be held hostage by the shifting situation on the ground.
"All sides must facilitate our access and respect our mandate," it said.
Two previous UN-brokered ceasefires failed to take hold. A humanitarian ceasefire declared by the UN earlier this month was not respected, and the world body warned that the country was "one step away from famine".
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