SANAA: Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded rebel positions across Sanaa overnight, only hours after the UN envoy to Yemen arrived in the capital to discuss stalled Geneva peace talks, residents said on Saturday.
The escalation came as neighbouring Oman, which enjoys good relations with Tehran and is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) alongside Saudi Arabia, hosted representatives of the Huthi rebels and delegates from Iran.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an air war that has targeted the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen on a daily basis since March 26, barring a five-day humanitarian ceasefire this month.
Among the latest targets to be struck was a house of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in his home town of Sanhan, south of the capital.
The raids came after Saleh said in an interview broadcast late on Friday that he had rejected a Saudi offer of “millions of dollars” to oppose the Huthi rebels.
Saleh was forced to resign in early 2012 after waging a bloody crackdown on a year of protests calling for an end to his three decades of iron-fisted rule.
His forces have been backing the Huthi rebels who seized Sanaa in September before fanning out across other parts of the country this year.
The interview was aired on the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel whose presenter said he spoke from Sanaa. But the former strongman no longer resides in his Sanhan house which has been targeted occasionally since the Saudi-led coalition launched its strikes.