A Saudi delegation was in Yemen’s capital on Sunday to negotiate a potential new truce with the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control the city, diplomats said, as Riyadh seeks a way out of the war.
Huthi media showed the group’s political leader, Mahdi al-Mashat, shaking hands and meeting with Saudi officials including the kingdom’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber.
The Saudi officials are “in Sanaa to discuss moving forward to create peace in Yemen,” said a Yemeni diplomat based in the Gulf region, information that was confirmed by a second diplomat.
Saudi officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The delegation’s arrival comes roughly a month after China helped broker a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. That deal has fuelled hopes for progress on ending the Yemen conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and triggered what the United Nations called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The top Saudi and Iranian diplomats met in Beijing on Thursday, pledging to work together to bring “security and stability” to their turbulent region.
Omani mediators arrived in Sanaa on Saturday.
The Huthis seized the city in 2014, triggering the conflict with the internationally recognised government which has been backed for eight years by a military coalition led by Riyadh.
A truce announced roughly a year ago has significantly reduced active hostilities within Yemen, and is still largely respected even though it officially expired in October.
