Yemeni FM says door to talks to settle crisis still open

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said on Saturday that the door to talks to solve the Yemeni crisis is still open.

The foreign minister made the remarks at the ongoing Arab League (AL) summit which kicked off earlier in the day in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The military operation is targeting those who seek to undermine the legitimate government in Yemen, Yassin noted.

Despite the ongoing airstrikes, "we still tell the Houthi that the door for dialogue is open," Yassin said.

"If they stop their advance in Yemen, the dialogue sponsored by the Gulf States will resume," Yassin stressed.

He also hailed the Saudi-led Arab coalition's quick military action against the Houthi group.

"This reaction from the AL countries to support Yemen proves that this institution has played an important role... The decision to launch military intervention will have a great impact on the Yemeni crisis," the minister said.

On Thursday, a Saudi-led airstrikes pounded military sites used by the Shiite Houthi groups which have seized large parts of the country including its capital Sanaa.

The Houthi said that their actions are to fight against the expansion of Salafism in Yemen, and for the defense of their Shiite community from widespread and systematic discrimination.

While, the Yemeni government in turn accused them of intending to overthrow the government to build a Shiite country.

The airstrikes were carried out a few hours after Yassin called for the Arab countries, during a preparatory ministerial meeting to the summit, to "move swiftly to save Yemen from a Houthi coup."

On the rejection of Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria to the military operation in Yemen, Yassin said the three countries have their own viewpoints that Yemen fully undersands.

"They (the three countries) urge for a peaceful political dialogue, and this is what we really seek. We finally want a peaceful political solution to the crisis," he stressed. Endit