Date: Feb 25, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Houthis to exit two ports under Yemen peace deal: sources Reuters DUBAI: Iranian-backed Houthi forces have agreed to draw back from two Yemeni ports Monday while withdrawal from the main Hodeida port will occur later alongside a retreat by Arab coalition-backed forces massed outside the city, U.N. and Yemeni sources said. Houthi forces will withdraw 5 kilometers from the ports of Saleef, used for grain, and Ras Isa, an oil terminal, as a first step agreed with the internationally recognized government, three sources said. The Houthi withdrawal from Hodeida port and the pull-back by coalition forces 1 kilometers away from the city’s “Kilo 7” eastern suburb would take place as a second step, they said. An orderly troop withdrawal from Hodeida, now a focus of an almost four-year war, is key to U.N.-led efforts to avert a full-scale assault on the port and pave the way for political negotiations. Hodeida is held by the Houthis while other Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition loyal to ousted President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi are positioned on the edges of the city. Hadi’s top negotiator, Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani, said the initial Houthi redeployment must be verified before further progress can be made and humanitarian corridors reopened. “This is what was agreed by the Yemeni government: we verify the first step before implementing the second,” Yamani told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. A small team of U.N. observers arrived in Hodeida after the ceasefire went into effect on Dec. 18 to oversee troop redeployments by both sides. The deal calls for local authorities to assume control of Hodeida but did not detail the process, leaving it open to interpretation.