Rebels 'agree' to UN-brokered three-day truce in Yemen

The Houthis and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the group’s main ally, have agreed in principle to the 72-hour ceasefire, Anadolu reported on Friday.

They conditioned an immediate halt to the Saudi-led air campaign on Yemen, anonymous sources told the news agency.

Speaking in the Omani capital on Friday after talks with representatives of the Houthi, the Mauritanian diplomat said a new truce deal was in the works as part of a wider peace plan.

"An agreement for a 72-hour renewable truce will be announced in the coming days," he said in remarks carried by the official Oman news agency.

He said he would head to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to meet with Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

The UN envoy said he was hoping to draft a new peace plan for Yemen "in the next two weeks" but that he first needed to carry out more consultations.

Three months of negotiations in Kuwait earlier this year ended without a breakthrough, dashing hopes for an end to the war between the rebels and government forces that has gripped Yemen for more than 18 months.

Fighting flared anew when the talks collapsed in August, prompting UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to warn that restoring a ceasefire for Yemen was critical.

Military sources said that a local pro-government commander, General Abd al-Rab al-Shaddadi, was killed in Friday clashes with insurgents in Sarwah, in Marib province.

The UN says the conflict has killed more than 6,700 people and displaced at least three million since a Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi's government launched operations in March 2015.

Since then, the rebels have been pushed out of much of Yemen's south, but they still control nearly all of its Red Sea coast as well as swathes of territory around the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition has stepped up its air raids following the breakdown of talks and cross-border attacks from Yemen have also intensified.

Agencies contributed to this report.