Zarif in Oman for talks on Yemen
SHELLING KILLS TWO ON SAUDI BORDER AS AL HOUTHI DELEGATES ARRIVE IN MUSCAT
Tribal fighters capture Dhale city, the gateway to the port of Aden, as Al Houthi delegates arrive in Muscat
Iran’s foreign minister held talks in neutral Oman yesterday about ending the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is waging a bombing campaign against Tehran-backed militia, Iranian media reported.
Oman is the only one of the six Gulf Arab states that has not joined the coalition air strikes on its western neighbour. “We discussed ways to send humanitarian aid, establish a ceasefire and start dialogues between the Yemeni groups,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian state television.
“We are concerned about the continuing air raids against the population in Yemen and irreversible damage to this country,” he added.
The visit comes as Al Houthi representatives are reportedly also present in Oman. A delegation of the Al Houthi Ansar Allah group, led by head of the Al Houthi political council, Saleh Al Samad, arrived in Oman on Saturday evening accompanied by Omani officials who flew into Sana’a to pick them up, according to media reports close to the Al Houthi militia.
Ending air strikes
Diplomatic sources told Gulf News that Zarif discussed the crisis in Yemen with Omani officials as well as ways to put an end to the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition.
The source added that the two sides had also discussed ways to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid for Yemenis, but declined to give further details about whether an Iranian delegation had met with the Al Houthi delegation in Muscat.
From Oman, Zarif was to travel on to Kuwait for a ministerial meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Meanwhile, shellfire from Yemen killed one civilian and a member of the security forces in Saudi Arabia yesterday, officials said.
The latest casualties bring to at least 28 the number of people, military and civilian, killed in the Saudi border zone since the coalition began air strikes against Al Houthi militiamen in Yemen on March 26.
The civilian died and five more were wounded at about midday when incoming fire hit Najran city, the civil defence department said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency. It said the wounded were taken to hospital.
Also in Najran, the security officer died and three others were hospitalised earlier yesterday when “military missiles from inside Yemen” hit their location, the interior ministry said.
On the ground in Yemen, pro-government fighters have pushed out the Al Houthis and their allies and retaken the southern city of Dhale, officials said yesterday.