Saudi-led coalition pounds Yemen rebels near city of Marib

PM Khaled Bahah will hold a meeting in the next two days in Aden in which reconstruction and humanitarian relief top the agenda.

The return of Bahah on Wednesday “marks the start of the government’s exercise of its tasks to run the country’s affairs and restore legitimacy”, a security official told German press agency DPA.

There was no indication that Hadi himself – who fled Yemen in late March when the Huthi rebels closed in on his refuge – was set to return.

Coalition and pro-Hadi forces also are advancing toward the capital from the south after retaking the key port city of Aden over the summer. Dozens from both sides have been killed in action.

Deputy governor Abdo Rab Ali said 80 percent of the province is controlled by pro-Hadi forces while the Houthis control the rest.

However, he also said that Yemenis can not wait for the government – backed by a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition, which includes the UAE – to subdue the Houthis before providing basic goods and services.

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Bahah, who is also vice president, was accompanied by seven ministers when he arrived in Aden, which loyalist fighters backed by Saudi-led troops recaptured from Iranian-allied Houthi forces in July.

Several thousand troops from the Arab coalition, notably from the United Arab Emirates, have been deployed in the country.

In Marib, government forces have killed at least nine Houthi militants and captured five west of the provincial capital of the same name, military sources said.

Residents said the air strikes targeted two houses in Ans in Dhamar province, one of which belonged to a supporter of the Houthi group which the Saudi-led coalition is trying to dislodge from Yemen.

On Sunday, the government pulled out of UN-sponsored peace talks.

The Russian Ambassador to Sana’a, who took part in the meeting for the first time, said his country was urging Yemeni parties to commit to adopt UN Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015), stressing the importance of group and concerted efforts to push for a political solution in Yemen.