UN: Yemen's Rival Sides Agree Peace Deal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Houthis and government forces clashed for a fourth straight day in the Yemeni capital, residents said, despite the announcement of a UN-brokered agreement.
Residents reported sounds of heavy shelling throughout Saturday night in an area of Sanaa near the headquarters of the first armoured division camp and close to the religious university of Iman.
UN special envoy Jamal Benomar, who had held talks with Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi in their home province of Saada, announced late on Saturday that an agreement had been reached to end fighting, Al Jazeera reported.
"This agreement shall be a national document that will advance the path of peaceful change, and will lay the foundations of a national partership and for security and stability," Benomar said in a statement.
Yemen's state TV headquarters in Sanaa had earlier been captured by the Houthis after coming under heavy shelling, while the country's Supreme Security Commission, chaired by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, ordered a curfew in four areas north and west of the capital between 9pm and 6am.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, a spokesman for the Houthis, said in a statement that his group took over the TV building after a battle with the guards.
More than 100 people have died in fighting since Thursday, sparked by weeks of protests and clashes. It also prompted the suspension of international flights to Sanaa and the interruption of broadcasts by state television.
