Ex-Yemen president calls on rebels to withdraw

Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has called on the Houthi rebels, his allies, to withdraw from territories they have seized in return for an end to Saudi air strikes. He appealed to both the warring Yemeni factions and Saudi Arabia to enter UN-brokered peace talks.

In a message broadcast on his Yemen Today TV channel, Saleh requested the Houthis "to accept all UN Security Council decisions and to implement them in return for a halt in the coalition forces' aggression".

"I urge them and everyone - militias and al-Qaeda as well as militias loyal to Hadi - to withdraw from all provinces, especially Aden," he sai.

Yemen’s former president is widely considered to hold sway over army units fighting with the Houthis. Yemen has been flung into turmoil since the Houthi rebels forced Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden and then to the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

A Saudi-led campaign seeking to restore Hadi was launched in March. Saudi Arabia recently claimed to be winding down its bombing operation against the Houthis, but Riyadh carried out at least 20 airstrikes across Yemen on Thursday and a further 10 on Friday. 

UN figures show that over 1,000 people have been killed in Yemen since fighting broke out in late March, including over 550 civilians and 115 children.

On Fridya, Iran, widely viewed to be supporting the Houthis, summoned the Saudi ambassador in protest after saying that Saudi military aircraft had turned back humanitarian flights heading for Yemen.

Iran has denied accusations by Gulf Arab states that it has provided financial and military aid to the Houthi rebe;s.