The kingdom said it would adhere to a UN-controlled ceasefire with Houthi rebels if the group agreed to the initiative’s terms.
The Saudi initiative is the latest attempt to bring about a ceasefire between the warring factions in Yemen. The UN is engaged in years of stalled negotiations between the opposing parties. More recently, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken received no response after offering peace talks to the Houthis.
A Houthi official dismissed the initiative as “not serious or new,” said Houthi-owned Al Masirah news agency.
Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam said on Twitter that any agreement must address a Saudi air and naval blockade. A recent CNN investigation in Yemen found that no oil tanker was able to dock in the northern port of Hodeidah in Yemen this year due to a blockade imposed by Saudi warships.
“Any position or initiative that does not recognize the aggression and blockade of the past six years and separates the humanitarian aspect from military and political issues and lifts the blockade is not new or serious,” Salam said on Twitter.
The blockade has starved the Houthis of oil tax revenues, but has also seriously hampered the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide aid, including food, as famine creeps into the country.
The Iran-linked Houthi group controls North Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and Hodeidah, and has been at war with a Saudi-led military alliance since 2015.
When asked how a UN-controlled ceasefire would work, Saudi officials who briefed journalists said they had no details on where and how many UN officials would be involved. They said it would be “up to the UN envoys to sort this out.”
President Joe Biden announced earlier this year that the US would end support for Saudi Arabia’s offensive operations in Yemen, in a move hailed by lawmakers as “ historic. ”
CNN’s Angela Dewan contributed to this report from London.