Saudi minister says Yemen’s Houthis ignoring calls for political solution in Hodeidah

Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister has blamed Yemen’s Houthi movement for a stalled peace deal in the main port of Hodeidah, saying the group was ignoring the kingdom’s call for a political solution to the four-year war, Reuters reported. “They are ignoring our calls for a political solution to this crisis,” Prince Khalid bin Salman said at a security conference in Moscow, in his first comments on Yemen since becoming deputy defense minister in February. The warring parties reached a deal at UN-sponsored talks in Sweden in December for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal from the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions of people. The Houthis say they are ready to implement the Hodeidah deal, but that the other side is obstructing it.