Rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, whose fighters have been battling both Saudi and Yemeni government forces, made the ceasefire offer on Monday and Riyadh has said it is mulling it.
“There has been a complete withdrawal from all Saudi positions and territory,” the rebels said on their website.
However Yemeni tribal sources alongside the Yemeni government denied the rebels had withdrawn.
The rebels said Saudi air strikes had killed five people and wounded two on Monday evening. They did not specify whether the strikes had occurred before or after the truce offer, which was made before a conference in London to galvanise support for Yemen as it tackles militancy.
Saudi defence ministry spokesman General Ibrahim al-Malek said Riyadh was mulling the offer: “The truce offer is being examined and we will make an official decision later today.”
Yemen’s government has been fighting the rebels on and off since 2004 but the conflict intensified last summer when Sanaa launched Operation Scorched Earth to quash the latest upsurge in violence.
Saudi Arabia stepped into the fray in November when rebels seized some Saudi territory, prompting Riyadh to wage an offensive against them.
Rebel leader Houthi said he was offering a truce “to avoid more bloodshed and to stop aggression on civilians”.
But he warned Riyadh that if Saudi Arabia did not also end hostilities, rebels would wage an “open war” on the kingdom.
Violence flared in northern Yemen, with Yemeni sources saying government forces had killed 20 rebels in clashes that also killed four Yemeni soldiers.
The conflict raging in north Yemen has already displaced around 200,000 people, according to the UN. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday humanitarian conditions in northern Yemen were worse than ever.
Yemen is also in the throes of a crackdown on Al Qaeda, whose regional wing is based in the country, while also trying to contain simmering unrest from a southern separatist movement.
Yemen’s foreign minister said the country was at risk of becoming a failed state unless foreign powers helped it develop its economy so that young people had alternatives to a path of radicalisation. Abubakr al-Qirbi made the remarks in an interview before a meeting today in London where foreign ministers of Western powers, Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey will discuss ways to stabilise Yemen.
“The actual fact is that the economic problem is the major cause of all the ills Yemen is facing now,” Qirbi said.
“I hope it will not become a failed state, there is a risk of course, but I think a component is how much the Yemenis will rise up to the challenges and really move away from political squabbling,” Qirbi said.
A Yemeni court jailed seven people for five to 10 years yesterday after convicting them of belonging to Al Qaeda.
The government in Sanaa declared open war on Al Qaeda this month, stepping up air strikes and security sweeps after the Yemen-based regional arm of Al Qaeda said it was behind a failed December 25 bid to blow up a US-bound airliner.
Qirbi earlier told the BBC his country needed logistical support to help fight Al Qaeda but would not allow foreign covert operations or a US base on its territory.
