Yemen update 10/31\2015.. talks failed

Yemen’s Houthis blame Saudi Arabia, US for “failure” of UN-backed peace talks

“Opportunity for political solution to Yemen’s crisis missed”

Efforts for Yemen talks failed: Houthis

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says efforts to convene UN-backed peace talks to find a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the Arab country have failed.

“All understandings for a political solution leading to the cessation of aggression have failed,” Houthi spokesman Saleh al-Samad wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.

Last week, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he was hoping to begin separate preliminary talks with the Houthis and the government of Yemen’s fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, expecting formal negotiations between the two sides “in the coming weeks.”

The UN envoy wants the talks to focus on the main parts of UN Resolution 2216 — the withdrawal of Ansarullah fighters from the areas under their control, the release of prisoners, the improvement of humanitarian situation, and the resumption of political dialogue.

In early October, Houthi leaders announced that they would accept the UN-brokered peace plan, which also requires adherence to Resolution 2216, if other parties to the conflict also commit to the initiative.

In his Facebook post, Samad also called on the Houthis to resist the Saudi aggression against their country.

“We should be patient and move with strength and courage in the face of aggression, to fortify our country against domination,” he wrote, adding, “We must redouble our efforts and exert ourselves to the utmost, ensuring the sacrifices made by our people over the past months do not go to waste.”

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Yemeni forces carry out retaliatory attacks on Saudi military positions

Yemenis have targeted the positions of Saudi forces both inside Yemen and on Saudi soil, inflicting heavy losses on them in a new series of retaliatory attacks.

A Yemeni military source, whose name was not released in reports, said army troops and fighters from allied Popular Committees destroyed a number of bases and arms depots used by Saudi forces in an area situated between Yemen’s central province of Ma’rib and al-Jawf Province in the north on Friday.

The attack left an unspecified number of Saudi military forces dead and injured, Yemen’s Saba Net news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army foiled the advance of the Saudi military on the country’s southern region of At Tabab, killing three Saudi troops and detonating two Saudi armored vehicles loaded with explosives.

In addition, several Saudi soldiers were wounded in rocket attacks on their base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern region of Jizan. Other bases in the Saudi region of Najran also came under attacks by the Yemeni forces.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Yemeni troops also killed a number al-Qaeda militants and Takfiri Daesh terrorists, destroying their hideouts in the Az Zahir dirstrict of the central al-Bayda province.

Yemeni forces seized weapons and military equipment from the terrorists.

Saudi aggression

The Yemeni operations come as Saudi fighter jets continue to pound different areas across Yemen.

Saudi warplanes bombarded several areas in Yemen’s northwestern Sa’ada Province more than 30 times, leaving several people dead or hurt.

Saudi jets also targeted a military base in the capital city of Sana’a, according to the Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network.

Homes were further destroyed in the Saudi air raids on a district in Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.

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