It is now way past the 21-day deadline for the Houthi redeployment from Hodeidah that was stipulated in the Stockholm agreement mediated by the UN in Sweden last December. The cease-fire is also violated by the rebels on a daily basis; the coalition backing the government has recently reported that more than 1,100 violations had been committed by the Houthi militias since the agreement came into force on Dec. 18.
The Houthis have managed to stall the implementation of the Stockholm agreement with endless maneuvers. They cried foul when Patrick Cammaert, the Dutch general who led the UN force that was to oversee their redeployment, insisted on a timely and genuine redeployment of the Houthis from Hodeidah as agreed. They insisted that he be removed, just a month after he started, and the UN obliged. His replacement, Danish general Michael Lollesgaard, has also so far failed to get the Houthis to redeploy from Hodeidah.
The Houthis have learned that their shenanigans actually work. In 2017, when the previous UN mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, pressed them on Hodeidah, they asked for him to be replaced. When that failed, they tried to assassinate him as he left Sanaa airport. He miraculously escaped death thanks to a strongly built armored car with bulletproof glass. The UN finally relented and replaced him.
In December 2017, the Houthis brutally murdered their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and killed many of his supporters. They had reached a nadir in their international standing, as well as within Yemen. But the UN again came to the rescue and rehabilitated the Houthis’ image. The organization bent over backwards to save Houthi forces in Hodeidah in the hope of getting a peace deal. Those hopes evaporated as the group postured and stonewalled. 
On Feb. 14, British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt sounded optimistic after a meeting in Warsaw between the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK and US (the so-called “Yemen Quad”). Hunt said: “The basic situation is that it’s possible that Hodeidah could finally be cleared of Houthi troops in the next few days, and that will be an important step forward in the implementation of the Stockholm agreement.” But Hunt then warned: “However, if it that doesn’t happen, there is real frustration and impatience that it is taking so long. So this is really a crunch moment in the Yemen process.”
The Houthis protested loudly against Hunt’s mild commentary because they object to the idea of clearing their forces from Hodeidah. The UN smoothed the Houthis’ ruffled feathers and announced another “breakthrough” in the implementation of the Stockholm agreement; not about Hodeidah mind you, but about other ports nearby. That breakthrough has also yet to materialize. 
Many Yemenis, aid workers and others have spoken out recently against this one-sided approach, if not outright appeasement, of the Houthis by some UN officials, who are usually quick to criticize the Yemeni government and the coalition.

AFP.