TWO senior army commanders from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were killed along with two Saudi soldiers in Yemen as fighting with a Houthi militia flared before today’s expected peace talks, state media reported yesterday.

    Sultan Mohammed Ali al-Kitbi, an Emirati officer, was killed near Taiz, state news agency WAM reported. Photographs of Abdullah al-Sahian, a top Saudi officer, were displayed by Saudi-owned al-Arabiya al-Hadath channel yesterday alongside Muslim verses of mourning.

    The Houthi militia said via its own media outlet that the two had been killed in a rocket attack on the Red Sea coast. The militia, alongside forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been battling fighters backed by Gulf states.

    The Houthis and Saleh’s former political party, the General People’s Congress, are sending representatives to Switzerland today for talks with Yemen’s internationally recognized government under President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

    A seven-day renewable ceasefire is scheduled to come into effect soon. Two previous attempts at ceasefires, in May and July, were followed by accusations of breaches by both sides.

    Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition in a military campaign from late March to stop the Houthis, allies of Riyadh’s main regional foe Iran, from taking complete control of Yemen after they had advanced south last year, seizing the capital Sanaa.

    Western countries that back Saudi Arabia say they are increasingly alarmed at the humanitarian cost of the war, in which more than 5,000 people have been killed. (SD-Agencies)