UAE backs new Yemen peace talks: Gargash

Dubai - The assault on the port city was the trigger for the new peace push.

The UN envoy has been shuttling between all sides in the devastating civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people in Yemen since March 2015 in a bid to get peace talks back on track.
Planned negotiations in Geneva broke down on September 8 after rebel delegates refused to show up until they received guarantees that they would be able to fly home afterwards.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and their allies have enforced an air and sea blockade of rebel-held areas of Yemen since they intervened in March 2015 when President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled into exile.
On September 9, government and UAE troops resumed their offensive on the rebel-held Red Sea port of Hodeida after a brief suspension while the UN attempted to convene peace talks.
The assault on the port city was the trigger for the new peace push.
Hodeida is the point of entry for UN aid shipments and also handles 70 per cent of commercial shipping, and the UN warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if the port were put out of use.
The Hadi government is recognised by the international community even though the rebels control the capital Sanaa and much of the north.
The civil war has pushed Yemen, long the Arab world's poorest country, to the brink of famine.

• MENA