Yemen's Houthi rebels have offered a truce and intra-Yemeni talks, a senior Saudi official told AFP, with Riyadh intervening militarily in the war-ravaged country.
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Yemen is devastated by one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world caused by the conflict which has pitted pro-government forces, supported by Saudi Arabia, against Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, rival of Riyadh for more than seven years. in the Gulf.
"
The Houthis have proposed, through mediators, an initiative that includes a truce, the opening of the airport
(of Sanaa)
and the port
(of Hodeidah)
as well as intra-Yemeni talks
," he said. AFP a Saudi official familiar with the matter.
Read alsoThe keys to understanding eight years of civil war in Yemen
"
We are waiting for an official announcement from them because they are constantly changing their position
," added the official, who requested anonymity.
Contacted by AFP, Houthi officials did not immediately react to this information.
Since seizing the capital Sanaa from the government in 2014, the rebels have seized power in entire swaths of territory in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, a neighbor of the wealthy Saudi monarchy.
But the Saudi-led military coalition, which has been operating in Yemen since 2015, controls the country's air and sea space.
Only UN flights are allowed via Sanaa airport.
The Saudi official's announcement comes a day after a series of rebel attacks on the Gulf kingdom, one of which caused a huge fire at an oil site in Jeddah near the Formula 1 circuit which hosts the Grand Prix from Saudi Arabia.
Read alsoYemen: the UN disappointed to have collected less than a third of the humanitarian aid requested
A diplomat based in Riyadh told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, had started talks to reach a truce during Ramadan, the month of Muslim fast which takes place this year in April.
The war in Yemen has directly and indirectly killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.
A large part of the population, and especially children, is facing acute hunger, with situations close to famine.
The Gulf Cooperation Council has called on Yemeni belligerents for peace talks at the end of the month in Riyadh, the organisation's headquarters, after the rebels rejected any talks taking place in an "enemy" country.
