Air raids persist in Yemen as sides tussle in UN-brokered talks

Fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition continued to strike Yemen's capital Sanaa Wednesday, while the Shiite Houthi leader accused Saudi of hindering the UN-sponsored peace talks.

The air strikes targeted Houthi militia and military camps loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa.

The raids also targeted houses of military officials in Sanaa and the northern province of Dhamar, assigned by Houthis to run security and military units loyal to Saleh, according to security sources.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Meanwhile, residents in several southern provinces said heavy clashes between Houthis and pro-Hadi tribal fighters continued Wednesday.

They said numerous people were trapped in crossfire and their homes were destroyed by mortar shells and Katyusha rockets.

The air raids came as the United Nations-backed talks among Yemen's warring factions entered their second day in Geneva.

UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, engaged in discussions Wednesday to bridge differences between Houthis and representatives of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who insists Houthis must withdraw from the cities they seized in September.

In a televised speech Tuesday, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi lashed out at Saudi Arabia for the three months of air raids, accusing the kingdom of obstructing UN-backed efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

"The Saudi regime is interfering to impose its agenda to hinder the Geneva talks," he said in a speech aired by his group's media Almasira.

"They have been operating against any peaceful solution to Yemen's situation. Their meddling intends to transform the Geneva talks to consultation meetings rather than discussions amongst Yemeni factions in order to reach a compromise," he said.

He added that the Houthis will not withdraw neither from the capital Sanaa or other cities, nor will they hand over weapons they seized from the army.

The Saudi-led coalition forces have launched air strikes against the Houthis since March in an effort to restore the authority of exiled President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, currently seeking refuge in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The UN-brokered peace talks kicked off in Geneva Monday, aiming to impose a permanent ceasefire and end weeks of conflict which killed over 2,000 Yemenis.

The talks are sponsored by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and were attended by the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the ambassadors of China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, and the European Union.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is deemed "catastrophic" by the United Nations with 20 million civilians, or 80 percent of the population, in dire need of aid. Endit