Saudis, Houthis Trade Blame in Yemen Ceasefire Violations, But No Casualties Reported

Both Sides Accuse the Other of Cross-Border Attacks

For the second day, a 72-hour ceasefire in Yemen has mostly held, though to hear both sides it was riddled with ceasefire violations, with the Shi’ite Houthis and Saudi Arabia both accusing the other of heavily shelling the opposite side of the border.

This is a common focus in the brief Yemen ceasefires, with everyone laying the narrative groundwork for the ceasefire’s eventual collapse being the fault of the other side. That said, this ceasefire is holding far better than most, and there is every reason to think the ceasefire may be extended when it expires.

Over the course of the day’s “violations,” there was not a single casualty, with neither deaths nor anyone wounded. That’s incredibly rare in Yemen, which has been in a state of war for 18 months now, and regularly sees huge death tolls both in fighting and in Saudi airstrikes.

The one thing really absent from this ceasefire, which was instigated by US and UK officials, iis any talk of peace talks to end the war, as both sides quickly endorsed the ceasefire but there was no indication from anywhere that new talks would be held. That may ultimately mean this is just a break in the war, which is still better than nothing.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.