Houthi rebels say they want to freeze military operations in Yemen

Yemen's Houthi rebels say they will freeze military operations if the Saudi-UAE military alliance is prepared to do the same.

As the UN prepares for peace talks, high-ranking rebel Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in a statement on Twitter: "We are willing to freeze and stop military operations on all fronts to reach a just and honourable peace if they really want peace for the Yemeni people."

He called on "all (Houthi) official Yemeni sides to stop launching missiles and drones against aggression countries... in order to deprive them from any reason to continue their aggression and siege".

The rebels should be ready "to freeze and stop all military operations on all fronts" to achieve "a just and honourable peace", he added.

Houthi rebels have controlled the capital Sanaa since late 2014 and has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which since 2015 has led a regional military coalition aiming to restore to power the government of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

UN special envoy Martin Griffiths said he would visit Sanaa this week to finalise arrangements for peace talks in Sweden.

Mr Griffiths' efforts to kick-start the peace talks collapsed in September but he said both the Saudi-backed government and the Houthi rebels have shown a "renewed commitment" to work on a political solution.

He said there had been "firm assurances" from both sides that they would attend the talks, although no date has been finalised.

The internationally recognised Yemen government said on Monday that it will take part in peace talks with Houthi rebels.

The foreign ministry said: "The government has informed the UN envoy to Yemen that it will send a government delegation to the talks with the aim of reaching a political solution."

Saudi Arabia's King Salman reiterated the kingdom's support for UN efforts to end the war in Yemen.

He said Saudi Arabia supports a political solution in line with a UN resolution that calls on Yemen's rebel Houthis to withdraw from all major cities which the Shiite rebels have seized during the three-year war.

Several attempts to hold negotiations between the government alliance and Houthis have failed - only in September rebels refused to fly to Geneva for UN-hosted negotiations.

Mr Ali al-Houthi said he wanted to end missile and drone attacks with the aim of "supporting the efforts of the (UN) envoy and proving our good intentions".

He added that it follows "our contact with the UN envoy and his request to stop launching missiles and drones".

The Houthis' foreign minister, Hisham Sharaf Abdallah, met UN officials on Sunday evening, according to the rebels' Saba news agency.

He was quoted saying that the UN and the international community should "adopt the political path to stop the bloodshed and protect Yemenis' properties from destruction".

Fighting in Yemen intensified at the beginning of November as the coalition renewed an offensive aimed at seizing Hodeida, a Red Sea city whose port serves as entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid.

Almost 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi intervention in March 2015, according to the World Health Organisation, but human rights groups believe the toll may be five times higher.

Yemen has come close to mass starvation and triggered what the UN has labelled the world's worst humanitarian crisis as a result of the war.