Saudi-led air strikes hit the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa hours before a five-day humanitarian truce took effect on Tuesday, and Washington cautioned against "provocative actions" after Iran dispatched a cargo ship to Yemen. The ceasefire began at 11 p.m. (2000 GMT), said Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for a Saudi-led coalition that has been striking Yemen's Houthi rebels since March 26, but clashes persisted after that in some areas. It is intended to allow the shipment of food and medicine to the country, which aid groups warn faces a humanitarian catastrophe after more than seven weeks of war but it will end if the Houthis do not also lay down arms, Riyadh has warned. There was no let up in fighting before the truce. The Houthis shelled Saudi border areas in Jizan province until the last moments before the ceasefire started, Asseri said on al-Arabiya television, adding that this gave him no confidence the rebel group intended to keep to the truce. Witnesses said as the ceasefire neared the Saudi-led alliance bombed Houthi positions in the southern port of Aden, where local armed groups were still fighting the rebels. After the ceasefire formally began, fighting continued in al-Dhala and Marib provinces in southern and eastern Yemen, said residents and tribal sources. The sound of shelling continued until morning in the city of Taiz, residents said. The United States said it was tracking Iranian warships accompanying the cargo vessel bound for Hodaida port, and urged Iran instead to use a U.N. distribution hub in Djibouti to provide help to people in the war-damaged Arabian Peninsula country. "We would discourage any provocative actions," said U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke. Iran is an ally of the Houthi movement, Yemen's most powerful political faction which the coalition accuses of toppling the rightful government. Iranian warships will escort the vessel, a naval commander was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. "The 34th fleet, which is currently in the Gulf of Aden, has special responsibility to protect the Iranian humanitarian aid ship," Admiral Hossein Azad said, referring to a destroyer and support vessel in international waters off Yemen. Asseri said any Iranian vessels sailing to Yemen, whether accompanied by warships or not, needed the permission of the Yemeni government or the coalition to make the journey.
