Yemen’s Houthis in talks with Saudis, reports say

Visit, said to be at invitation of Saudis, comes as Iranian general says military advisers may be sent to help Houthis.

A follower of the Houthi shouts slogans as he raises his weapon in Yemen''s capital Sanaa
The war began in March last year between Houthi forces and a coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia [Reuters]

A delegation from the Houthi group is in Saudi Arabia for talks on ending the conflict in Yemen, two senior Yemeni officials say.

The visit, reported on Tuesday, is the first of its kind since the war began in March last year between the Iran-allied Houthi forces and an Arab military coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia.

The visit began on Monday at the invitation of Saudi authorities, following a week of secret preparatory talks, said the two senior officials from the administrative body that runs parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

The officials – both members of the Houthi-run Revolutionary Committee – conflrmed that the talks were taking place.


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About 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have died in the fighting in Yemen, raising fears of a wider regional confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Underlining the regional rifts, a senior Iranian military official indicated on Tuesday that Iran could send military advisers to Yemen to help the Houthis.

In an interview with Tasnim News Agency, Brigadier-General Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, suggested Iran could support the Houthis in a similar way it has backed President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria.

“The Islamic Republic felt its duty to help the Syrian government and nation,” he said.

“It also feels its duty to help the people of Yemen in any way it can, and to any level necessary.”

UN-sponsored talks

The Houthi delegation in Saudi Arabia is headed by Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the group’s main spokesman who is also a senior adviser to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, according to officials.

Abdel-Salam previously led Houthi delegates in talks in Oman that paved the way for a UN-sponsored peace dialogue in Switzerland last year.

The spokesman for the Arab coalition that has been fighting to restore Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power since last year has yet to comment on the reported talks.

The Saudi foreign ministry has also not commented.

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Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Luciano Zaccara, professor on Gulf Studies at Qatar University, said the latest move by the Houthis was “surprising”.

“It could be that the Houthis are losing ground, and that they are doing it now before it’s too late to save face,” he said. 

He said Saudi Arabia, for its part, has not indicated its willingness to negotiate until the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, is recaptured by government forces. 

The Houthi visit to Saudi Arabia coincides with an apparent lull in the fighting on the Saudi-Yemeni border, one of the bloodiest fronts in the conflict, and in Arab coalition air strikes on Sanaa.

The Houthis’ Al Masirah news channel has continued to report attacks on what it calls “the Saudi-American forces of aggression” inside Yemen, including a rocket attack on Monday.

However, it has not reported any operations on the border since March 1.

Between February 4 and 26, Al Masirah reported daily military operations against Saudi frontier positions and towns by the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, including sniper attacks, mortar bombardments, ambushes and infiltrations.

The last Arab coalition air strike on Sanaa was also about a week ago, according to the city’s residents.

 
 
Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies