The Yemeni team at the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) in Hodeidah asserted Monday that a ceasefire was reinforced in the city after the establishment of three joint observation points between the legitimate government and Iran-backed Houthi militias, allowing the UN to redeploy its members and observe the truce from all sides in the coming phase.

“The establishment of those observation points places a mechanism for better protecting a truce in the city of Hodeidah,” Brigadier Ahmed Kawkabani, a member of the government team at the redeployment committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.

On Saturday, a meeting was held in Hodeidah where the warring parties agreed on a timetable to introduce four observation points in the city by Tuesday.

Speaking by phone from Hodeidah, Kawkabani said that if those four observation points are established in the city with the participation of the legitimate government and Houthis, the UN could act as an observation body to supervise the reinforcement of the ceasefire.

He said those observation points are being set up in the presence of RCC chair and head of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) Abhijit Guha.

The first observation point was established on Saturday in al-Mouthalath, the second observation point was set up on Sunday in Saleh, a third last Monday in the Kilo 16 district and a fourth point should be established on Tuesday in the southern al-Manzar area.

Meanwhile, West coast liberation operations spokesman Waddah al-Dbish told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthis continue to place obstacles to hinder the establishment of the four observation points in the Yemeni coastal city.

“Houthi militias fired on Monday at the government’s liaison officers operating in the Kilo 16 area, killing one officer and injuring two others,” Dbish said.

He added that the militias also impeded Guha’s movement by forcing him to take a difficult route to arrive to the third observation point.

A.Awsat