Saudi Arabia, Houthis hold direct talks to end Yemen war

PanARMENIAN.Net - Saudi Arabia has begun direct talks with Houthi rebels over the nearly yearlong war in Yemen that has become a test of the Riyadh’s determination to defend its interests aggressively in the region, the Wall Street Journal reports.

An official for the rebels and the Saudi-led military coalition said Wednesday, March 9 the talks were taking place near the Saudi-Yemeni border. But the two sides appeared to differ over the agenda of the negotiations, which began Monday.

“The talks focus on ways of ending the war and starting an immediate ceasefire,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed al-Shire’i said. The coalition said in a statement only that the negotiations had created a “state of calm” to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Both sides said they had swapped prisoners, with the coalition saying the Houthis had released a captured Saudi soldier and freed seven Yemenis detained in combat zone near the border. It was unclear if the Yemenis were rebels.

Supported by the U.S., a Saudi-led coalition of mostly Sunni Arab states launched an air campaign against the Houthis in March, aiming to quickly unseat the rebels and reinstall President Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

Instead, Yemen has become engulfed in a protracted, seesaw war also involving ground forces from Saudi Arabia, other Sunni monarchies of the Gulf, Sudan and Egypt. Also, instead of merely being a local conflict involving some outside parties, it has come to be seen partly as a theater in the heated rivalry between the region’s preeminent Sunni power, Saudi Arabia, and its leading Shiite power, Iran.

The Houthis adhere to the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam. Iran supports the Houthis politically, but it denies sending them weapons.

In its statement on Wednesday, the coalition said Yemeni tribes inhabiting the Saudi-Yemeni border region were mediating the talks. The development could represent a possible avenue for a negotiated settlement of the conflict after the breakdown of several mediation attempts by the United Nations.