File photo: Houthi supporters rally to mark the anniversary of lunching their motto (Sarkha)
The United Nations has invited the Yemeni government and the Houthi movement that controls most of the north to peace talks in Geneva on Sept. 6, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.
U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths is trying to negotiate an end to the three-year conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed Yemen to the verge of starvation.
"I can confirm the office of Special Envoy has sent invitations to the government of Yemen and to Ansarullah," U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva news briefing.
The Yemeni army has captured the Baqem Directorate in the northwestern Saada province from Houthi rebels, a military source said Thursday.If confirmed, Baqem would be the first directorate of Saada -- a traditional Houthi stronghold -- to fall to the army.Brigadier-General Yasser al-Harthi, commander of the army’s 102nd Brigade, said that “dozens” of Houthi fighters had been killed or captured in the fighting.Yemeni president leaves Egypt for Saudi capitalAnadolu Agency, however, has yet to independently verify al-Harthi’s assertions.Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.Thousands of Daesh fighters remain in Syria, Iraq: UN
Yemen army establishes foothold in Houthi stronghold
Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi left the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday for Saudi Arabia after a three-day visit.“President Hadi left Cairo for Riyadh after a 3-day business visit,” his office director Abdullah al-Alimi said on Twitter.He described Hadi’s talks in Cairo with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as "successful".Al-Alimi said the Yemeni leader has obtained “serious pledges” from Egyptian authorities about facilitating the living of Yemenis in Egypt.Hadi has been living in Riyadh since he fled Yemen in 2015 after the Shia Houthi group overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa one year earlier.The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains and shoring up the country’s pro-Saudi government.
Yemeni president leaves Egypt for Saudi capital
Thousands of mourners on Monday buried dozens of children killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in northern Yemen, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the three-year-old war.At least 40 children were killed in Thursday's raid which hit the bus as it drove through a market of Dahyan, a town in Saada, the armed Houthi group which controls the province said.Wooden coffins, most with a picture of a child, were taken by cars and carried by pall bearers to a graveyard from a square where prayers were held earlier. "Death to America, death to Israel," the crowd chanted, echoing the Houthis' slogan.The shrouded bodies were removed from the coffins and placed in a row of unmarked graves that had been dug on Friday.UN envoy says Yemen talks to focus on transition, disarmament"My son went to the market to run house errands and then the enemy air strike happened and he was hit by shrapnel and died," said Fares al-Razhi, mourning his 14-year-old son."For my son, I will take revenge on Salman and Mohammed Bin Zayed," he said, referring to leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The Gulf Arab states are leading the alliance of Sunni Muslim countries that intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government that was expelled from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014.The coalition said on Friday it would investigate the strike after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack and called for an independent probe.UN calls for investigation into Yemen airstrikeBut on Saturday, state news agency SPA said Saudi Arabia's mission to the world body delivered a message to Guterres reiterating that the raid was "legitimate" and targeted Houthi leaders "responsible for recruiting and training young children"."War can’t be a clean operation unfortunately," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told reporters in Dubai when asked about the Saada attack. "But I will say all parties need to accept their part in what they are doing today."TALKS PLANNEDThe coalition initially said after the attack that the strike had targeted missile launchers that were used by the Houthis to attack the southern Saudi province of Jizan.The Houthis' health minister Taha Mutawakil said last week that the estimated number of casualties stood at 51 killed including 40 children, and at least 79 people wounded, of which 56 were children. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported the same toll on Friday, citing authorities in Saada.Dozens killed, including children, in Yemen air strikesThe Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Monday quoted a health official as saying another child had died from his wounds, raising the toll to 52.The head of the Houthis' supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, attended the funeral and blamed the United States for "this ugly massacre of Yemeni children".The United States and other Western powers provide arms and intelligence to the alliance, and human rights groups have criticised them over coalition air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets.A U.S. military spokeswoman said U.S. forces were not involved in Thursday's air strike. The U.S. State Department urged the Saudi-led coalition to "conduct a thorough and transparent investigation".The coalition says it does not intentionally target civilians and has set up a committee to probe alleged mass casualty air strikes, which has mostly cleared it of any blame.The Houthis have also been criticised by rights groups.The U.N. special envoy to Yemen has been shuttling between the warring parties ahead of holding consultations in Geneva on Sept. 6 to try to end the conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed the impoverished Arab country to the verge of starvation, according to the United Nations. 
Thousands mourn Yemeni children killed by coalition air strike
The Yemeni army has captured the Baqem Directorate in the northwestern Saada province from Houthi rebels, a military source said Thursday.If confirmed, Baqem would be the first directorate of Saada -- a traditional Houthi stronghold -- to fall to the army.Brigadier-General Yasser al-Harthi, commander of the army’s 102nd Brigade, said that “dozens” of Houthi fighters had been killed or captured in the fighting.Yemeni president leaves Egypt for Saudi capitalAnadolu Agency, however, has yet to independently verify al-Harthi’s assertions.Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.Thousands of Daesh fighters remain in Syria, Iraq: UN Yemen army establishes foothold in Houthi stronghold