Yemen's Houthis to halt missile, drone attacks on Saudi coalition

Yemen's Houthi rebels say they will stop their missile and drone attacks on the Saudi-led coalition, according to a statement the group posted on Twitter early Monday.

The move comes amid growing international pressure to end Yemen’s war of nearly four years, with the UN envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, seeking to hold a new round of peace talks which Sweden has agreed to host.

Should the coalition be willing to seek peace, then the Houthis would be too, Mohammed al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi Revolutionary Committee, said in the statement.

The cessation of attacks was a sign of good will and will deprive the coalition of an excuse not to hold peace talks and end their "siege" of Yemen, al-Houthi said.

Yemen's coalition-backed government forces said last week they had temporarily halted a major operation in the rebel-held Red Sea city of Hodeida.

Despite the ceasefire, the rebels said Friday that at least 10 civilians were killed by Saudi-led airstrikes in Hodeida.

In September, an attempt to organize UN-sponsored talks in Geneva between the Yemeni government and the rebels collapsed.

Griffiths told the UN Security Council on Friday that Yemen’s warring parties had given "firm assurances" that they will attend the Sweden talks.

One of the Arab world's poorest countries, Yemen has been embroiled in a disastrous power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked rebel Houthis since late 2014.