Yemen's Houthi rebels open road in Taiz Governorate

Yemen's Houthi rebels on Wednesday said they were "unilaterally" opening a road in the Taiz Governorate for the upcoming Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

The Houthis' Supreme Political Council (SPC) said in a meeting that the 50-60 road, described as a secondary route by Reuters' Arabic service, was being opened to reduce suffering in the province.

However, the Houthis have subjected the city of Taiz to a crushing blockade for years.

The SPC also said the reopening of a separate main road, the Al-Hawban road, hinges on the "clearing out" of government troops from Taiz city, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported.

"We are studying the unliteral opening of a number of roads in Taiz," the SPC added.

However, the Houthi body warned that it might not renew Yemen's current ceasefire, alleging that the Yemeni government's main backers, the Saudi-led coalition, had not fulfilled its obligations under a ceasefire agreement.

The Yemeni government has also accused the Houthi rebels of failing to live up to the ceasefire deal's requirements.

Moammar Al-Eryani, Yemen's information minister, said the Houthis have not "observed [their] part of the agreement and continued violating the truce and besieging Taiz" city, the Financial Times reported in late June.

A two-month ceasefire began in Yemen in April and was renewed last month.

The Houthis in June refused to open roads into Taiz after Hans Grundberg, the UN's Yemen envoy, proposed that this be done.