Jemen

The United Arab Emirates pulled some of its forces from Yemen’s southern port of Aden on Tuesday, officials and witnesses said, as a Saudi-led military coalition works to end a power struggle between the Yemeni government and separatists in the city.

Implementation of the initiative by the Houthis “in good faith could send a powerful message of the will to end the war,” special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said.

An early morning strike on 20 September in the vicinity of the Al Hali District of Hudaydah governorate - in the country’s western coast - was carried out by a Saudi military operation, according to media reports. The assault comes after Yemen-based Houthi rebel forces launched two drone attacks on major Saudi oil facilities on 14 September, a violation of UN ceasefire agreements reached at peace talks in Sweden last year.

Special Envoy Martin Griffiths said there is “no time to waste” in ending four years of fighting between Houthi rebels and the internationally-recognized Government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, which has pushed the country to the brink of famine. The UN humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, estimates roughly 80 per cent of the population—or 24 million people—require humanitarian aid.

The Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen blames all warring parties for the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that has been causing immeasurable suffering for millions of civilians during more than four years of civil conflict. The experts have presented their latest report to the U.N. human rights council.

US official says White House holding talks with Iran-backed rebels for first time in over four years, ‘narrowly focused’ on ending conflict.

All parties to the war in Yemen are committing horrific abuses, from arbitrary killings to rape and torture, with an impunity that underscores a collective failure of the international community, a panel of international experts said on Tuesday.

Yemen’s anti-Huthi coalition has begun to splinter, with sharp fighting between Saudi- and Emirati-backed elements in the country’s south. With UN assistance, the Gulf monarchies should urgently broker a ceasefire as a prelude to an expanded peace process encompassing southern secessionists and others now excluded.

The situation in Yemen is “very fragile”, the top United Nations humanitarian official there has warned, noting that as many as 13 people have been killed and at least 70 wounded over the past three days during clashes in two governorates.

Yemen government forces on Wednesday captured Aden airport from southern separatists and attacked the city’s eastern suburbs, residents and officials said, in renewed fighting that deepened a rift between supposed allies in a Saudi-led coalition.