Arab air strikes hit Yemen as Geneva peace talks enter 2nd day

PanARMENIAN.Net - Arab air strikes hit military targets throughout Yemen on Wednesday, June 16 and expanded into one western province for the first time, despite peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending almost three months of fighting, Reuters reports.

The bombings hit army bases in the capital, Sanaa, and Houthi militia targets in Yemen's central desert and the mountainous province of Mahweet, one of the last provinces in Yemen not to be bombed since the Arab campaign began on March 26.

A coalition of Sunni Muslim states led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing the Iran-allied Houthis, who hail from a Shi'ite sect, and their allies in Yemen's army since then. Their aim is to restore Yemen's exiled president to power and head off what they see as Shi'ite Iran's expansion in the region.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in September and pressed on into the country's center and south, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The militia denies any military link to Tehran and says it is winning a revolution against Sunni Muslim militants and a corrupt government.

United Nations-backed talks among Yemen's warring factions are entering a second day in Geneva, and the UN's special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, began shuttle diplomacy on Wednesday to bridge differences. But the two sides still refused to sit at the same table and laid out clashing agendas.