Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen resume after truce expires

Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels resumed today and fierce clashes were underway across the impoverished country after a five-day truce expired.
The cease-fire had been repeatedly violated, with both the rebels, known as Houthis, and Saudi-backed forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi trading blame for the continued violence.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes to convene a peace conference on Yemen in the near future, but wants the fighting to stop before he sends out invitations, his spokesman said.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq also said Yemen's health facilities reported higher casualties from the conflict which "are likely to be underestimates", 1,820 people killed and 7,330 wounded since March 19. He said aid groups estimate that more than 545,000 people were displaced between March 26, when the airstrikes began, and May 7.

Dozens of politicians and tribal leaders have been holding talks in the Saudi capital to discuss a way out of the crisis, but the rebels boycotted the meeting and Iran, which supports the Houthis, objected to the venue.
The coalition accuses Shiite-majority Iran of arming the Houthis as part of a larger struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia for regional influence, something the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny.
The Riyadh dialogue is set to conclude tomorrow. The Houthis reject the main aim of the talks - the restoration of Hadi, who fled the country in March in the face of rebel advances - and their location in Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an air campaign against the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The truce appears to have allowed the Houthis and their allies to deploy more troops to the southern city of Aden, where there has been heavy fighting for weeks. Hadi had declared a temporary capital in there before he fled.