Yemen conflict: Fragile ceasefire holds despite small clashes
(about 13 hours later)
A three-day ceasefire brokered by the UN has officially begun in war-ravaged Yemen.
A fragile ceasefire is reported to be holding in Yemen amid the latest effort to end more than 18 months of fighting in the war-ravaged country.
The truce went into effect a minute before midnight local time, just hours after clashes were reported.
The UN-backed truce is intended to last at least three days, though there have been reports of sporadic clashes.
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's forces - supported by a Saudi-led coalition - have been fighting Houthi rebels, who control Sanaa.
A Saudi-led coalition which backs Yemen's exiled president, and Houthi rebels which ousted him, have said they will retaliate if attacked.
The UN hopes the break in fighting might lead to a resumption of peace talks between the two sides.
The war has killed nearly 7,000 people, mostly civilians, the UN says.
The coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, said in a statement it would respect the three-day truce provided its foes in Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi movement also complied.
The coalition has been fighting rebels and their allies since March 2015, when a Saudi-led air campaign began.
The parliament in Sanaa, in which pro-Houthi MPs hold a majority, called on Wednesday for a "full commitment" to the truce.
Five previous ceasefires broke down within a short time.
But there is some scepticism about whether or not the ceasefire will hold and pave a way to end the 19-month civil war, which has left thousands dead.
The announcement of the ceasefire follows international condemnation over the deaths of 140 people in a Saudi airstrike which hit a funeral gathering in Sanaa.
It is the sixth one attempted.
Saudi officials said they targeted the wrong site by mistake due to "bad information".
President Mansour Hadi, who is in exile, told state news agency Saba on Wednesday that he expected his foes would violate the truce.
The conflict and a blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition have triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving millions of people homeless and hungry and 80% of the population in need of aid.
"We don't expect from them today anything more than prevarication and procrastination," Hadi was quoted as saying after meeting the American and British ambassadors.
The UN ceasefire, which began on Wednesday at just before midnight local time, is intended as a way to get aid to civilians.
The announcement of the ceasefire follows international alarm over the deaths of 140 people in a Saudi airstrike which hit a funeral gathering in Sanaa.
Sadok Abdullah, 28, a resident of Sanaa, told the AFP news agency: "We want a lasting ceasefire."
Saudi officials say the air strike in the capital earlier this month should have hit Houthi rebel leaders, but erroneous intelligence meant that the wrong site was targeted.
Another resident, Ali al-Daoush, 32, said: "They're mocking us with a three-day truce. We want an end to the war."
The UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he hoped the ceasefire "will spare the Yemeni people further bloodshed and will allow for the expanded delivery of humanitarian assistance".
The conflict in Yemen pits forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of President Hadi against the rebels. The coalition led by Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of backing the rebels and supports the president.
The war has killed nearly 7,000 people in addition to wounding more than 35,000 and displacing at least three million since March last year, according to the UN.
