This cease-fire might be different

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the insurgent Ansar Allah movement in Yemen announced a comprehensive cease-fire on April 9. The Saudi initiative complements both UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call for a cease-fire in global conflicts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and UN Yemen Envoy Martin Griffith’s latest diplomatic initiative toward a political solution. The 14-day freeze has the support of the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Ansar Allah (“followers of God”) is the Islamist political armed movement from North Yemen that began the war in 2014 by overrunning the capital of Sanaa. It is led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi of the Houthi tribe, and is linked to the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam. The Houthis, as the movement’s members are known, receive support from Iran.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the United Arab Emirates and other regional and Arab countries and with backing from the United States and other Western powers, intervened in an attempt to turn back the Houthi advance in March 2015. The war, which is now in its fifth year, has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, in addition to Saudi, Emirati and other coalition casualties.