Twenty die in Houthi attack on Marib market

Twenty people were killed in Marib on Friday as Iran-backed Houthi militias sporadically shelled a busy market in the Yemeni eastern city, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Houthis and militias loyal to deposed leader Ali Abdullah Saleh fired Katyusha rockets in Marib’s center hitting residential areas and a government building, the report added.

Earlier on Friday, Saudi-led coalition warplanes hit a Houthi-held weapons depot north of the capital of Sanaa, Al Arabiya reported.

The United Nations on Thursday said peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in Yemen were set to resume next week in the region and urged all parties to participate “in good faith,” Reuters news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia and Arab allies intervened in March to try to restore Yemen’s president to power and roll back the Iranian-allied Houthi militia. The war has brought the country to the brink of famine and peace talks have yet to end the fighting.

A U.N. press official said U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy on Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, welcomed the commitment of Yemen’s government, the Houthis and Yemen’s General People’s Congress to join the talks, which will take place in the region next week.

[With Reuters]