Egypt Agrees to Operate Flights between Yemen's Sanaa and Cairo

Egyptian authorities agreed to receive flights from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, marking a breakthrough in the war-torn country's truce.

The two-month nationwide truce, announced in early April, calls for two commercial flights a week to and from Sanaa to Jordan and Egypt. The first flight from Sanaa in six years took off to Amman last week. Sanaa is held by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak thanked Egyptian authorities for agreeing to operate direct flights between Sanaa and Cairo.

He said authorities in their countries will work in the coming days to coordinate and complete the technical details to launch the flights.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had received a telephone call from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who expressed his gratitude to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for allowing the flights to be operated.

Shoukry hoped that the move would help consolidate the UN truce in Yemen, ease the suffering of the people and help efforts to achieve stability and security in Yemen.

Other points in the truce include a nationwide ceasefire, allowing 18 fuel ships into Hodeidah port and easing the Houthi siege on Taiz.

In spite of the truce, the military continues to confirm Houthi violations. It said the militias were preparing to launch an attack on the Maqbana front in western Taiz.

The Houthis also launched several drones from Sanaa. They crashed in the capital, killing three people.

Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, concluded on Tuesday a two-day meeting with Yemeni economic experts from perse backgrounds to consult on priorities for the multi-track peace process. Participants underlined the momentum provided by the truce on economic issues and identified opportunities for incentivizing further progress, said a UN statement.