Sanaa [Yemen], May 13: The United Nations has on Sunday said the very-first full-day withdrawal of the Houthi forces from three ports of crisis-hit Yemen went totally “in accordance with established plans”.
Houthi has earlier this week unilaterally reached a final decision to pull out its forces which were stationed in three key ports of the Hodeidah, Ras-Issa and Salif.
According to ANI news reports, the first long-delayed withdrawal of Houthi forces began on Saturday from Hodeidah port, as well as another two smaller ports of Ras-Issa and Saleef.
This development has come as an important part of a ceasefire agreement that has reached last year in December in Sweden, Al-Jazeera reported.
In an official statement on Sunday, ex-general Michael Lollesgaard of Danish, the current head of the UN’s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) said, “All three ports were monitored simultaneously by the UN teams as the military forces left the ports and the coast guards took over responsibility for security.”
The move was seen as a crucial step taken towards ending the very-long civil war in Yemen which kicked off in 2014 after the Houthis captured Yemen’s capital, Sanna.
Activities in the upcoming days will have its focus over “removal of military manifestations and de-mining”, according to the statement.