Yemen govt forces capture Al-Hazm as peace talks go on

The Houthis say they are ready to free the prisoners once a permanent ceasefire is agreed, another source close to the talks told Reuters.

On the ground, forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and allied tribesmen captured the capital of Jawf province after making significant gains further south, tribal sources said. The counterattacks, the source said, came after Saudi Arabia’s violation of the ceasefire.

The coalition said yesterday that Saudi air defenses had intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, while another struck a desert area east of the Saudi city of Najran.

Rebel leader Mohammed Badreddin al-Houthi, a key leader in Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement, was killed near northern Sadaa province, the Suhail News website reported Saturday.

In Geneva, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi dismissed questions over whether the rebels were boycotting the talks, insisting Friday’s meeting had been scheduled to start late to allow participants the possibility to partake in Friday prayers.

However, he warned that the Yemeni army and the popular committees will not keep mum in face of such escalation and will strongly respond to the coalition violations.

The negotiators met at a hotel in the northwestern Swiss city of Biel for a fifth day of talks Saturday as they scramble to end the spiralling conflict, which has killed more than 5,800 people since March.

But contrary to the coalition claim of shooting down a missile over Marib, Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said a Tochka missile hit a base for “mercenaries” in Marib.

Yemen’s conflict began in September 2014, when the Houthis – Shiites who complained of disenfranchisement – advanced from the north to occupy the capital Sanaa.

In mid-November this year, Hadi returned to second city Aden which he declared the provisional capital.

But the United Nations, which is mediating the talks, cast doubts on the alleged suspension. The Humanitarian Relief Coalition said aid was “still outside the city and has been stored by the World Food Program in unknown places”, according to a statement carried by the government’s Saba news agency.

“There has been no progress in the detainees issue”, he said.

In another move that had been seen as promising, the pro-government forces and rebels completed an exchange of hundreds of prisoners in the southern province of Lahj on Thursday.