SUNDAY TIMES WEB DESK:Residents said six missiles blasts near the 7 July eastern suburb broke the calm, but it was not clear who was responsible.

The Iranian-aligned Houthi movement and the Saudi-led government had traded blame for violations on the first day of the truce on Tuesday, when residents reported shelling on the eastern and southern outskirts of the Houthi-held city at night.

The United Nations brokered the truce deal as part of confidence-building measures at peace talks last week in Sweden to avert a full-scale assault on the port that is vital for urgent aid supplies for millions facing starvation.

A source in the Saudi-led coalition arrayed against the Houthis told Reuters that if international monitors were not deployed in Hodeidah soon, the deal could falter.

“If the U.N. takes too long to get into (the) theater, they will lose the opportunity altogether and the Stockholm agreement will be a dead duck,” said the coalition source, who declined to be named.

A U.N.-chaired committee formed to oversee the truce and troop withdrawal from Hodeidah city and three ports held its first meeting on Wednesday using video link and phone with representatives from both sides.

Retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee, will travel to Jordan on Thursday, then on to Sanaa and Hodeidah, with a small initial advance team, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The ceasefire deal, which covers only Hodeidah, will see international monitors deployed in the city and port with all armed forces pulling out within 21 days of the truce.

The two sides had also agreed a prisoner swap. A Red Cross official said in Geneva on Wednesday they had exchanged lists of a total of 16,000 people believed to be detained.