Sanaa // Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Houthi rebels across Yemen on Saturday, as the country’s government in exile said the president would not be attending UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva this week.
A spokesman for the government headed by president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi said the Iran-backed rebels and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, should first commit to a UN Security Council resolution demanding they withdraw from Yemen’s main cities.
“The discussion to hold the Geneva conference perhaps needs more time and arrangements. The other side, the Houthi militias and Saleh, have not recognised President Hadi’s legitimacy ... until now they have given no explicit, clear reaction to resolution 2216,” Rajeh Badi told Al Arabiya TV.
Meanwhile, air raids pounded Houthi-controlled arms depots under the control of the Houthis in the locality of Ghula, in Omran province north of Sanaa, residents said.
At Hajja in the north of the country, a gathering of Houthis was struck, killing at least 12 of the Shiite fighters, witnesses reported.
Airstrikes also struck rebel positions in the central region of Dhamar, officials there said.
In southern Yemen, warplanes targeted rebels locked in combat with tribesmen in Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province.
The fighting killed at least 28 people, including 17 Houthis and 11 tribesmen.
In Aden, clashes raged in the north, east and west of the port city between rebels and fighters loyal to Mr Hadi.
* Agence France-Presse and Reuters
