Big blow for Houthi militia

Aden : In a major blow to Houthi insurgents, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday said that he was ready for talks with the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

Saleh said in a televised speech that he would be ready to “turn the page” if the coalition lifted a blockade on northern Yemen and halted attacks. The call came as his supporters battled Houthi militia for a fourth day in the capital Sanaa while both sides traded blame for a widening rift between allies that could affect the course of the civil war.

Together they have fought the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015 aiming to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthis forced him into exile.

 “I call upon the brothers in neighbouring states and the alliance to stop their aggression, lift the siege, open the airports and allow food aid and the saving of the wounded and we will turn a new page by virtue of our neighbourliness,” Saleh said in a televised speech, indicating a major change of stance.

“We will deal with them in a positive way and what happened to Yemen is enough,” he added.

The Houthis, however, has accused Saleh of betrayal and vowed to keep up the fight against the Saudi-led coalition.

“It is not strange or surprising that Saleh turns back on a partnership he never believed in,” the group’s political bureau said in a statement. “The priority has been and still is to confront the forces of aggression.”

Heavy fighting

Residents of Sanaa described heavy fighting on the streets of Hadda, a southern residential district of the Yemeni capital where many of Saleh’s relatives live, early yesterday, with sounds of explosions and gunfire heard while the streets were deserted.- Agencies