Government forces seize Jawf amid fragile Yemen talks

“Last night, they already expressed reservations”, said a member of the government delegation, requesting anonymity.

A soldier loyal to Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi walks past a destroyed building at the Mass army barracks after the pro-Hadi forces took it from Houthi rebels in the country’s northwestern province of Marib December 18, 2015.

Yemeni troops had also captured the northwestern town of Harad on Thursday after crossing over from Saudi Arabia where they had been trained and equipped.

Yemen’s clashes pit the Houthis and army units loyal to a former president against the government, which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition and supported by the US.

The forces have advanced toward remaining strongholds of the militants in the province, the sources said.

A source close to the delegation representing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government said there had been no agreement on the general framework for the talks and no agreement on the opening of humanitarian corridors.

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.

In an interview on Friday, Yemen’s ambassador to the UN, Khaled al-Yamany, said it was necessary to maintain the ceasefire so that humanitarian workers could deliver aid to besieged cities.

Although the alliance wants the Switzerland peace talks to succeed, “it will not adhere to the truce for long given the threat to the kingdom’s territory”, it said.

A spokesman for troops loyal to Saleh acknowledged firing two ballistic missiles.

He said another missile, a Qahir-1, targeted an assembly point for “aggression forces” in Najran, adding that the missiles were launched in retaliation for coalition truce violations.

The impoverished country was plunged into war when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and marched south, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in March.

Under cover of coalition warplanes and backed by Arab soldiers and heavy weaponry, pro-government fighters have recaptured Aden and four southern provinces since July.

Yemeni forces and allied tribes on Friday captured the capital of northern Jawf province, the second rebel town to fall in 24 hours.

But the United Nations announced a first breakthrough in the talks Thursday, saying the sides had agreed to “allows for a full and immediate resumption of humanitarian assistance” in the flashpoint Yemeni city of Taez.

U.N. Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed voiced deep concern late on Friday, the fourth day of peace talks, at “numerous reports of violations of the cessation of hostilities” and set up a mechanism to strengthen compliance, a U.N. statement said.