Yemen’s rebels say they are implementing cease-fire agreement

Yemen’s northern rebels meeting cease-fire terms

SAN’A, Yemen — Yemen’s northern rebels have withdrawn from an occupied airport and begun tearing down roadblocks, fulfilling the conditions of a cease-fire agreement with the government, a rebel spokesman said Saturday.

Yemen has come under intense international pressure to end the conflict to free up resources to confront an emerging threat from an al-Qaida offshoot that has set up operations in the country.

Earlier this week, Yemen’s president declared an end to military operations against the Shiite militants after the rebels agreed to the government’s cease-fire terms, sparking hopes the six-year war could be ending.

On Saturday, rebel spokesman Mohammad Abdel Salam said the militants have pulled out an airport in the northern city of Saada, and will allow planes to land there for the first time since the fighting intensified in August.

Salam also said the militants, known as Hawthis, are working to return Saudi prisoners captured after neighboring Saudi Arabia entered the war in November.

“Steps are being taken to hand over Saudi prisoners to a mediator,” he said.

Under the cease-fire agreement, the Hawthis have agreed to disarm, release captured soldiers and property, withdraw from strategic positions, abide by the constitution and vow not to attack Saudi Arabia.

Several earlier cease-fires quickly disintegrated, mainly because the rebels said their demands were not addressed, and it was not clear whether the new deal would hold. But the rebels and the government have come under international pressure to end the conflict this time, and both sides appear eager to do so.

Still, government and rebel officials have cautioned there may be sporadic outbreaks of violence. On Friday, a Yemeni official accused the Hawthis of violating the truce hours after it took effect, killing one soldier and wounding another in an attack on a police station.

The northern rebels are ferocious fighters who know the country’s mountainous terrain better than Yemen’s army. The fighting intensified six months ago, claiming an undetermined number of lives and sending 125,000 people fleeing their homes.

Saudi Arabia was drawn into the conflict in November after rebels crossed the border and killed two Saudi border guards. Some 133 Saudi soldiers have died in the fighting.

The militants declared a unilateral cease-fire with Saudi Arabia in late January. The Saudis have responded cautiously to the announcement, and demanded militants pullback from border positions and return five missing soldiers.

The rebels say their community of Shiite Muslims from the Zaydi sect suffer discrimination and neglect and that the government has allowed ultraconservative Sunni extremists too strong a voice in the country. Hard-line Sunnis consider Shiites heretics.