Omani mediators in Yemen to try to broker new truce
Omani mediators arrived in Yemen on Saturday to discuss a new truce between the Iran-backed Houthi 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 on 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 Houthis 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, Shi'ite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia, has fuelled hopes of reduced tensions in the Middle East, particularly in Yemen. (AFP)