The United Nations said Thursday that its head of a ceasefire monitoring team in the coastal city of Hodeidah in Yemen was safe after reports of a shooting incident.
"Patrick Camart and his team are in Aman in Hodeidah after news of a shooting incident," the UN spokesman's office said on Twitter. "More information will come later."
A Yemeni source in the Saudi-led coalition said the convoy of the team leader, Kamart, came under fire during a visit to an area controlled by the coalition.
The Houthis accused their opponents of firing at the security crew of the UN team in Hodeidah at 11 am as they opened the way for him on 50th Street.
On the other hand, a member of the delegation of the Yemeni government to the consultations Laskar Zayel that the Houthis militia prevented General Patrick Kmart from moving from his residence to the venue of his meeting with the government team in the complex of Ikhwan Thabit industrial city.
| Bullet targeted a car in the convoy of the UN observer delegation in Hodeidah (Al Jazeera) |
Deployment of observers
Kemart, a retired Dutch general, arrived in the Red Sea city on December 22 to head the committee to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire and troop withdrawal agreement reached last month in Sweden between the Huthis and the Saudi-backed Saudi government. .
The shooting came a day after the UN Security Council unanimously approved the deployment of up to 75 unarmed observers in Yemen on a new mission to bolster the ceasefire.
The observers will be sent to the town of Hodeidah and the port, as well as to the Salif and Ras Issa ports, for an initial period of six months.
The Houthis control Hodeidah, while thousands of members of the Yemeni forces supported by the Saudi-UAE alliance on the outskirts.
The cease-fire remains largely in place, but sporadic clashes have taken place.
The United Nations finds it difficult to implement the withdrawal of troops from both sides of the city, which is the main gateway for commercial imports and humanitarian aid to Yemen.