[Al Arabiya Latest] The leader of Yemen's Houhti rebels declared a ceasefire with Saudi Arabia and said his group would withdraw from the kingdom's territory, Al Arabiya TV reported on Monday.In an Audio tape released Monday, Houthi said his rebel group would withdraw from all Saudi territories they entered from November 2008.
Got thrown out, did they?
Abdel Malik didn't like getting his pants singed...
"We announce our full withdrawal from all Saudi territory," said Abdul Malik al-Houthi in an audio message, describing his offer as an "initiative."
The rebels said on their website on Sunday that their commander would make an important announcement shortly, but made no mention of a ceasefire.
Yemen's central government has been fighting the rebels, who complain of marginalization, on and off since 2004, but the conflict intensified last summer when Sanaa launched Operation Scorched Earth to quash the latest upsurge in violence.
The war spread to Saudi Arabia in November when rebels seized some Saudi territory, prompting Riyadh to respond with a major military assault against them.
Yemen is also in the throes of a crackdown on al Qaeda, whose regional wing is based in the impoverished Arab country and claimed the bomb attempt on a Detroit-bound plane on Dec. 25. In addition, Sanaa is trying to contain simmering unrest from a southern separatist movement.
Western powers and Riyadh fear Yemen will become a failed state, allowing al Qaeda to exploit chaos to use the country as a base for more international attacks.
The conflict raging in the north has displaced around 175,000 people, according to the United Nations. The area is off-limits to journalists and many international organizations, making death tolls difficult to verify.
Humanitarian conditions in northern Yemen are worse than they have ever been, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday, adding fighting had "dramatically worsened" the fate of Yemeni civilians.