RIYADH: The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire which is to take effect shortly before midnight Wednesday, the UN special envoy to Yemen announced Monday.

A U.N. statement said Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed “welcomes the restoration of the Cessation of Hostilities, which will spare the Yemeni people further bloodshed and will allow for the expanded delivery of humanitarian assistance.”

Ahmed said he had received assurances from all Yemeni parties to cease hostilities at 11:59 p.m. Yemen time on Oct. 19 “for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal.”

Earlier, Saudi Arabia welcomed a statement issued after the London meeting on Yemen, which expressed support for the efforts of Ahmed, the Cabinet said in a statement, following its weekly meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, who briefed the Cabinet on the outcome of Ahmed’s meeting in London to discuss the situation in Yemen.

Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said, before the Ahmed’s ceasefire announcement, that Saudi Arabia is prepared to agree to a cease-fire in Yemen if the Iran-allied Houthis agree, adding that he was sceptical about efforts for peace after previous cease-fire attempts had failed. “Everybody wants a cease-fire in Yemen, nobody more so than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the coalition members,” he told reporters in London.

He accused the Houthis of reneging on previous deals. “So yes, we come at this with a lot of cynicism. But we are prepared, the Yemeni government is prepared, to agree to a cessation of hostilities if the Houthis agree to it. The coalition countries will respect the desire of the Yemeni government,” Al-Jubeir said.

“The momentum is going against them in Yemen. They’re losing more territory, more people are mobilized against them. They are not paying their bills, businesses are not extending credit to them,” Al-Jubeir said.

Essam bin Saad bin Said, acting minister of culture and information, said in a statement to the media that the Cabinet confirmed the Riyadh’s support for the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Vision 2030 held in Bangkok, and the Kingdom’s readiness to actively participate in most of the proposed initiatives meant to develop that vision into programs and put them into practice.

He also stressed the importance of respecting the principle of state sovereignty and immunity to the judiciary of another state, and said that the adoption of any unilateral item of legislation that undermines this principle is a clear violation of the principles of international law.

“The Cabinet commended KSRelief’s directive to coordinate with the Coalition Forces Command, the Yemeni government and the UN bodies to facilitate the transfer of the wounded in the Great Hall incident in Sanaa who need treatment outside Yemen,” said the minister.

The Cabinet welcomed the liberation of the town of Dabiq from the grip of the terrorist organization Daesh, praising the victory achieved by the “Free Syrian Army” supported by Turkish troops in the operation “The Shield of the Euphrates.”

The victory, it said, is an important step on the way to defeating terrorism.

The Cabinet also expressed the Kingdom’s condemnation of the attack by Houthi militias on the US Navy destroyer Mason in the international waters of the Red Sea, saying that such terrorist acts pose great dangers the international navigation.

It also condemned the Houthi attack on an Emirati relief ship and the militias’ continuous attacks on civilians in the villages bordering the Kingdom and their firing of missiles on the Kingdom’s territory.

The Cabinet denounced the terrorist acts in north Sinai, Gaziantep and Baghdad, which resulted in deaths and injuries, stressing the Kingdom’s rejection of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

It offered the Kingdom’s condolences to the families of the victims in these countries and wished speedy recovery to the injured.