The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday urged Yemeni parties concerned to implement the Stockholm Agreement without delay.

"The members of the Security Council expressed their grave concern that four months after the agreements reached by the Government of Yemen and the Houthis in Stockholm, those agreements have not yet been implemented," according to a Security Council press statement.

"They reiterated their endorsement of the Stockholm Agreement, circulated as document S/2018/1134, and reiterated their call for it to be implemented without delay."

"The members of the Security Council underlined their full support for the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen and the Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and welcomed their tireless efforts to support implementation of the Stockholm Agreement," it said.

They called on the Yemeni government and the Houthis "to implement the redeployment plans as soon as possible and not seek to exploit the redeployment process."

They also expressed concern about the recent escalation in violence elsewhere in Yemen, notably in Hajjah and on the Yemeni-Saudi border.

"The members of the Security Council noted that the agreements reached in Stockholm are an important step in the process to end the conflict in Yemen," according to the statement.

They reaffirmed their strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen.

According to the deal reached in Stockholm in December 2018, the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels should withdraw troops from the city of Hodeidah and ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi rebels overtook the capital Sana'a and ousted the internationally-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

AFP.