Omani mediators in Yemen to broker truce with Huthis

SANAA: Omani mediators arrived in Yemen Saturday to discuss a new truce between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, an airport source said, amid renewed moves to end the conflict.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have multiplied since the Yemeni government´s main foreign backer Saudi Arabia signed a Chinese-brokered deal to restore relations with Iran last month. The top Saudi and Iranian diplomats met in Beijing Thursday, resuming diplomatic relations and pledging to work together to bring “security and stability” to their turbulent region.

Nearly a decade of war in Yemen has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, both directly and indirectly, and triggered what the United Nations has called the world´s worst humanitarian crisis. The Huthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, triggering the conflict with the government which has been backed for eight years by a military coalition led by regional heavyweight Riyadh.

The rapprochement between the two great regional rivals, Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, has fuelled hopes of reduced tensions in the Middle East, particularly in Yemen. “A delegation from Oman has arrived in Sanaa to hold talks with Huthi leaders about the truce and the peace process,” a source at the capital´s airport, who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to journalists, told AFP. The source said the delegation was accompanied by Mohammed Abdelsalam, the rebels´ chief negotiator, who lives in Muscat. Oman has forged a reputation as a discreet mediator in Gulf disputes often involving Iran.

Abdelsalam himself tweeted that he had arrived in Sanaa with the Omani delegation, but without providing further details.