Shia Houthis offer border truce with Saudi Arabia

The Shia Houthi group and its allies, the loyalists of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, have proposed a truce on the Saudi border, media reported on Monday.

"Cessation of air, land and sea military operations by Saudi Arabia, as well as lifting all-out blockade on Yemen, is a prerequisite for stopping the (Houthi) war on the (Saudi) border," Xinhua news agency quoted the Houthi's top official Saleh al-Sammad as saying.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition against Houthis and Saleh's loyalists since March 2015 at the request of Yemen's internationally-recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The Houthis, backed by Saleh's loyal forces, took over the capital Sanaa and half of the country's north in September 2014, forcing Hadi and his government into exile.

Previous peace talks brokered by the United Nations (UN) have collapsed though there were new attempts to resume the negotiations.

Saudi-led air strikes and fighting on the ground have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced about three million others, according to UN reports.

--IANS

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