Air Strikes Hit Yemeni Capital As U.N. Envoy Arrives Hours Before Truce

An air strike hits a military site controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen's capital Sanaa May 12, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
An air strike hits a military site controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen’s capital Sanaa May 12, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Saudi-led air strikes pounded the rebel-held Yemeni capital, Sanaa on Tuesday just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was set to begin. Reuters report:

Looking to prepare for the truce and jumpstart stalled political talks among Yemen’s civil war factions, the new U.N. envoy to the country arrived in Sanaa, saying fighting would not resolve a conflict that crosses ethnic and religious faultlines. “We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen’s problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni,” the envoy, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, was quoted as saying by the local Saba news agency.

Seeking to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, an alliance of Gulf Arab nations has since March 26 been bombing the Iranian-backed Houthi militia and allied army units that control much of Yemen. Backed by Washington, top oil exporter Saudi Arabia worries that the Shi’ite Muslim Houthi rebels are a proxy for what they see as moves by arch-rival Iran to expand its sway in their backyard.

Saudi-led air strikes on a rocket base in Sanaa on Monday killed 90 people and wounded 300, a local official was quoted as telling Saba. If confirmed, the death toll would be among the highest in a single bombing incident throughout Yemen’s war.