Saudi Arabia's Attacks on Yemen Continue despite Truce
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Saudi Arabia launched fresh airstrikes on Yemen despite an ongoing round of UN-backed peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in the Arab country.
Saudi jets on Saturday carried out bombardments on Masloob district in northern Jawf Province.
Attacks had also been launched in Amran Province late Friday, with reports suggesting that residential neighborhoods across the northern province were targeted by at least 50 rounds of Saudi air strikes.
Riyadh’s attacks on Yemen come despite UN-mediated talks in Kuwait between representatives of the Saudi-backed former regime and a delegation comprising of the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement and allies.
The Houthi delegation on Saturday submitted a protest to the UN officials over the attack in Amran, saying such blatant cases of truce violation could lead to a full collapse of the peace talks, Press TV reported.
Sources in the capital Sana’a said the Houthis were pondering a withdrawal from the talks if the other side keeps breaching the terms of the truce.
On Thursday, the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that hope was emanating from the talks as the warring parties started discussing details of a comprehensive agreement.
The development came a few days after representatives of Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi accepted to end their one-week boycott of the talks and began face-to-face negotiations with Houthis.
The Saudi-backed delegation has urged the Houthis to begin to implement a UN Security Council resolution, withdrawing from the capital Sana’a and other places they control and surrendering their arms.
However, the Houthis have refused to give in, setting their own preconditions, including a full halt to aerial and ground attacks by Saudi Arabia in support of Hadi that have left close to 10,000 killed in Yemen over the past 14 months.
