Houthi militia ‘to blame for Yemen standoff ’

The Houthis are disrupting efforts to end the war in Yemen and the international community should increase the pressure on the Iranbacked militia, the Yemeni government said on Tuesday.

At a meeting in Riyadh, Yemen’s Shoura Council leader Ahmed Obeid bin Daghar told Marion Lalisse, deputy head of the EU mission to Yemen, that the Houthis had never taken peace seriously. In contrast, the Yemeni government had accepted the Saudi peace initiative and was willing to comply with all efforts to end the war, he said.

“The shortest way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace is to oblige the Houthis to respect the basic references of a solution that

achieves the interest of the people and respects their will,” he said.

Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage on Tuesday between Yemen troops and the Houthis on key battlefields in Marib and Al-Bayda.

Dozens of Houthis were killed in the central province of Marib as government troops pushed back several assaults in key contested areas.

Yemen’s Defense Ministry said troops and tribesmen drove back a Houthi attack in Al-Kasara, west of Marib, as warplanes from the Arab coalition carried out attacks in Marib province targeting Houthi military reinforcements and locations.

In Jabal Murad, south of Marib, three airstrikes destroyed a Houthi command room and heavy weapons.