Iran-allied Houthis and their Saudi foes have begun talks to try to end Yemen’s war, two officials said, in what appears their most serious bid to close a theater of Saudi-Iranian rivalry deepening po
Iran-allied Houthis and their Saudi foes have begun talks to try to end Yemen’s war, two officials said, in what appears their most serious bid to close a theater of Saudi-Iranian rivalry deepening political tumult across the Middle East.
A delegation from Yemen’s Houthi movement is in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, they said, in the first visit of its kind since the war began in 2015 between Houthi forces and an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a foe of Tehran.
The reported talks coincide with an apparent lull in fighting on the Saudi-Yemen border and in Saudi-led Arab coalition air strikes on the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Underlining the regional rifts, a senior Iranian military official meanwhile signaled that Iran could yet send military advisers to Yemen to help the Houthis.
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, in an interview with the Tasnim news agency.
Asked if Iran would send military advisers to Yemen, as it had in Syria, Gen. Jazayeri said: “The Islamic Republic ... feels its duty to help the people of Yemen in any way it can, and to any level necessary.”
