Yemen civil war: Fragile truce as peace talks begin

Saudi state television reported some 20 violations by the Iran-allied Houthis in first hour

Supporting forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, prepare and review ammunition in the area of Sirwa (Getty Images)

A ceasefire took effect in Yemen on Tuesday as UN-sponsored peace talks began in Switzerland in a new push to end a civil war that has resulted in nearly 6,000 deaths.

Fighting raged across the country ahead of the truce, with residents in the northern part of the country saying 15 civilians were killed in air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shia Houthi rebels.

Army commanders said the truce appeared to be largely holding, though Saudi state television reported some 20 violations by the Iran-allied Houthis in the first hour of the ceasefire. An earlier round of UN-backed indirect talks in Geneva in June ended without an agreement, with both sides blaming each other for their collapse.

Unlike the previous round, the current session opened with an agenda being agreed and with senior delegates meeting face-to-face.

The main task for the negotiations will be agreeing on how to implement a UN Security Council Resolution in April that called on the Houthis to quit the capital, Sanaa, and other cities that they seized in late 2014 and early 2015.

Residents said war planes launched two raids on the village of Bani al-Haddad, in northern Hajjah province on the border with Saudi Arabia, killing 13 people and wounding 20 others. Two more residents died while doctors tried to evacuate them, they said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment but the alliance said it does not target civilians.

In south-western Yemen, coalition forces captured the Red Sea island of Zuqur, part of the Hanish Archipelago that controls the main sea route near the strait of Bab al-Mandab, Saudi state television reported.

Reuters