An agreement including a ceasefire has been reached between Houthi fighters and Yemen's regime, the UN special envoy has said, shortly after a curfew was imposed in parts of the capital Sanaa following a third day of intense fighting.
An agreement including a ceasefire has been reached between Houthi fighters and Yemen's regime, the UN special envoy has said, shortly after a curfew was imposed in parts of the capital Sanaa following a third day of intense fighting.
"This agreement shall be a national document that will advance the path of peaceful change, and will lay the foundations of a national partnership and for security and stability," Jamal Ben Omar said in a statement on Saturday.
The envoy said that preparations were being made for the signing ceremony of a ceasefire on Sunday.
Yemen's state TV headquarters in Sanaa was captured by Shia fighters 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 120 Shia 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.
Hakim al-Masmari, the editor-in-chief of the Yemen Post, told Al Jazeera that Saturday's clashes were the fiercest since fighting began on Thursday. He said that dozens of Houthi fighters were killed in Sanaa in the latest round of fighting.
Thousands of Houthis have staged protests in Sanaa for more than a month now, besieging ministries and blocking the road to the main airport.
The Houthis are a Zaidi Shia group whose traditional power base is in the north.
Fighting has been raging on between Ansarullah fighters and loyalists to Salafist Islah party in Sana’a since Thursday.
The Salafists are backed by some army units, which are under the control of Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the stepbrother of the country’s deposed dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Yemeni capital has been the scene of protests by Ansarullah members for weeks; they have been demanding the establishment of a new government and the reinstatement of fuel subsidies. The protesters say the government is corrupt and marginalizes the country’s Shia community.
Yemeni revolutionaries have been staging demonstrations in the capital for more than a month, demanding the formation of a new government.
On August 20, thousands of Houthis strengthened their positions in Sana'a in their efforts to press the Yemeni government to resign.
Yemen’s Shia Houthi movement draws its name from the tribe of its founding leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently called on Yemeni authorities to probe the use of force against anti-government protesters in Sana’a and other cities.
The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular revolution that forced former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down in February 2012.
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