Yemen Rejects UN Claim about Decrease in Saudi Strikes

"The remarks come as the Saudis have carried out more than 12 airstrikes in the last two days," Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Friday, according to Press TV.

This came after United Nations Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths claimed earlier Friday that Saudi airstrikes in Yemen had dramatically decreased.

"In recent weeks, there have been entire 48-hour periods without airstrikes for the first time since the conflict began," Griffiths said.

"There were almost 80% fewer airstrikes nationwide than in the two weeks prior,” Griffiths told the UN Security Council by video conference from his office in Amman.

The Saudi airstrikes continue even as Yemen’s voluntary bid to cease missile and drone strikes against the kingdom has held for two months, according to Griffiths. 

In September, president of the Supreme Political Council in the Yemeni capital Mahdi al-Mashat said that Yemen’s armed forces, led by the Houthi Ansarullah movement, would conditionally stop drone and missile attacks as part of a peace gesture.

"We will wait for the favor to be returned with a similar or even better one by (Saudi Arabia) announcing a halt to all sorts of airstrikes against Yemeni territories," he said.

Nearly a week later, however, al-Mashat expressed regret that the Saudis "irresponsibly" continued to pound various parts of Yemen.

The Yemeni peace proposal came almost a week after Houthis carried out a devastating attack on two Saudi oil facilities.

Despite continued Saudi airstrikes on Yemen, observers believe the raid, which was the latest of increasingly sophisticated retaliatory Yemeni attacks against Saudi Arabia, played a role in shifting Riyadh’s approach towards Yemen.