Yemen’s Hadi won’t attend peace talks

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni government spokesman Rageh Badi said Saturday that embattled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi will not attend forthcoming peace talks in Geneva as Saudi-led airstrikes continued to hit multiple provinces in Yemen.

The announcement is a blow to the planned talks, which are aimed at ending weeks of airstrikes against an Iran-supported rebel group amid a growing humanitarian crisis that has left millions short of food and fuel.

Badi says Hadi will not attend because of the security situation and because Shiite Houthi rebels have not satisfied a government precondition to pull out of towns and cities they occupy.

The leader of the Houthi rebels, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, has called the talks the “only solution” for the conflict.

Meanwhile, security officials said Saudi-led coalition airstrikes continued, hitting Sanaa, Dhamar, Hodeida and the Houthi stronghold of Saada early in the day. At dawn, planes hit targets belonging to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his family in the village of Sanhan, the officials said.