Yemen: Saudi-led coalition strikes Sanaa after Houthi 'truce' offer
The Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes in Yemen early on Sunday, Saudi media said, after the country's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels called a three-day "truce" and said they were offering a permanent ceasefire.
The raids targeted Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, according to Saudi Arabia's Al Ekhbariya TV, which tweeted "the start of air strikes on Houthi camps and strongholds in Sanaa" around midnight.
The attacks began shortly after the Iran-backed Houthis announced a three-day "truce" and said there were offering peace talks on condition that the Saudis stop their air strikes and blockade of Yemen and remove "foreign forces".
Reports of casualties could not be independently confirmed.
The Houthi "truce" followed a wave of drone and missile attacks by the Yemeni rebels on Saudi targets on Friday, including on an oil depot near Jeddah's Formula One track that turned into a raging inferno during televised practice sessions.
The Houthis have turned down an invitation to peace talks in Riyadh, scheduled for the coming days, to be hosted by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
It was announced on the seventh anniversary of the intervention led by oil-rich Saudi Arabia in Yemen, its impoverished neighbour, after the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and displaced millions, creating what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
