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News ID: 59679
Publish Date : 16 November 2018 - 21:13

‘Saudis Paused Raids on Yemen’s Hudaydah to Buy Time’


SANAA (Dispatches) – A pause in Saudi airstrikes against Hudaydah is not a submission to international pressure but a bid to buy time and reinforce the military strength for a fresh offensive, a Houthi spokesman says.
"In every round of aggression against Yemen, the escalation begins and then dies down, mostly without declaring a truce,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote in a tweet.
"Given the recent developments in the battle on the ground, the aggressive coalition is trying to pretend that it has halted its attacks [on Hudaydah] in response to global pressure or to allow the dispatch of humanitarian aid, but that’s a big lie,” he said.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deployed about 10,000 new troops to Yemen's west coast after repeated campaigns to seize Hudaydah were thwarted by Houthis and their allies in the Yemeni army.
The invaders have hit a stiff wall of resistance put up by the city's protectors who have pushed back the militants and mercenaries.
The truth, Abdulsalam said, "is that the coalition is preparing for a new round of aggression, which needs additional time.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the House of Representatives have blocked a vote on a measure that sought to end Washington’s support for Saudi Arabia’s brutal war on Yemen.
The still Republican-led lower chamber of Congress voted 201-187 on Wednesday afternoon to approve a rule for floor debate on a bill that aimed to take the gray wolf off the endanger species list.
Also included in the measure, however, was an unrelated clause that barred debate on the U.S. military’s involvement in the conflict.
The House Rules committee snuck the extraordinary clause in the wildlife bill on Tuesday, in order to block voting on a resolution by Democratic Representative Ro Khanna which invoked the 1973 War Powers Resolution to "remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress”.
Since it was introduced under the War Powers Resolution, Khanna’s measure should have had privileged status meaning the committee could not hold it up by the majority for more than 15 days and after that the measure had to be subject to floor vote.
Furthermore, the European Parliament (EP) says the European Union’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia are stoking the deadly war on Yemen, calling for sanctions on the countries that refuse to respect the EU’s rules on weapons sales.
"In Yemen, European weapons are fundamentally responsible for the war taking place,” German EU lawmaker Sabine Losing, who is leading efforts to hold EU governments accountable, said on Wednesday.
EU lawmakers said that arms sales to Saudi Arabia by EU member states undermined the European arms export control effort, calling for tougher checks on the bloc’s sales of weapons.
The EU’s Common Position on arms exports includes eight criteria that governments must apply when deciding on an arms export license. The lawmakers said arms sales to Saudi Arabia violated six out of the eight criteria.
"The Common Position on arms exports must be implemented effectively. That includes, among others, a sanctions mechanism,” Losing said.

Saudi-backed militants patrol a road as smoke billows in the port of Hudaydah.