Flights, banks in Yemeni Houthi-held Sanaa resume after UN-Saudi-backed deal

SANAA, July 25 (Xinhua) — Flights to and from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport resumed on Thursday following a United Nations-backed deal, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.
The agreement, brokered by Saudi Arabia, was announced on Tuesday by UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg. It includes the resumption of flights from Sanaa to Jordan’s Amman and new routes to India and Egypt.
Flights had been suspended for nearly a month after the Houthi group seized three passenger planes to protest the transfer of Yemenia Airways’ revenues from Sanaa to Aden, where the internationally recognized Yemeni government bases.
The al-Marsirah TV also reported that the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden reinstated the licenses of banks operating in Sanaa and allowed them to use the electronic system for international money transfers.
The intra-Yemen deal stipulates that the warring parties will continue negotiations to reach a political settlement to end nearly a decade of civil war.
Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized much of the country’s north, forcing the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. ■