Yemen Warring parties agree to truce in lifeline port city of Hudaydah

Warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a ceasefire for the port city of Hudaydah, a principal lifeline for two-thirds of the country.

They reached agreement at talks in Sweden brokered by the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hoped this would be the starting point to bring nearly four years of civil war to a close.

Guterres thanked the Yemeni delegations for making "real progress toward future talks to end the conflict" and said the next round of talks is planned for end of January.

The fighting has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with 22 of Yemen's 29 million people in need of aid, according to the UN. The two sides have for months been locked in a stalemated fight over Hodeida.

"This is just the beginning," Guterres said at the closing ceremony for the talks in the Swedish town of Rimbo.

Leaders of the delegations from the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels, who control much of the country, shook hands after the ceasefire was agreed on Thursday.

Hudaydah is one of the areas controlled by the rebels.

All forces from the Houthi rebels will withdraw from Hudaydah in the coming days, as will those from the Yemeni government alliance fighting them there.

They will be replaced by what the UN called local forces.

Houthi forces would also withdraw from the ports of Saleef and Ras Isa.

Guterres said the ceasefire would then take place for the whole of the Hudaydah governorate.

The UN would then play a "leading role" in monitoring the ports and would help distribute aid to civilians, he added.

There is no agreement yet on a truce for the rest of the country, including the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis.

Guterres said he hoped for a deal within a week on reopening Sanaa airport.

The Stockholm talks were the first in two years between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, which has had the backing of a Saudi-led coalition since 2015.

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in early 2015 when the Houthis seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and seven other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government.

At least 6,660 civilians have been killed and 10,560 injured in the fighting, according to the United Nations. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease, and poor health.