Sanaa - Saudi-led warplanes launched more deadly strikes in Yemen Thursday despite a demand by Iran-backed rebels for a complete halt to the raids as a condition for UN-sponsored peace talks.
The military coalition has declared an end to the first phase of its operations against the Huthi Shia rebels and their allies, but vowed to keep hitting them with targeted bombings when necessary.
Two days on, a new wave of strikes killed at least 23 rebels as the World Health Organization said the overall death toll from fighting in Yemen since late March topped 1,000.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced plans to appoint Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as his new envoy to the country.
He replaces Morocco's Jamal Benomar, who resigned last week after losing support for his mediation efforts from oil-rich Gulf countries.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the air war on March 26 in an attempt to restore the authority of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee abroad last month as the rebels swept across the country.
After the end of Operation Decisive Storm, the coalition said the campaign would enter a phase dubbed Renewal of Hope focusing on political efforts, aid deliveries and "fighting terrorism".
But the Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, has since warned that the Huthis should be "under no illusion" that the coalition would refrain from using force "in order to stop them taking over Yemen by aggressive actions".
His remarks came as US President Barack Obama called on Iran to help find a political solution in Yemen, accusing the Islamic republic of contributing to the conflict.
Later on Thursday US defence officials said a controversial Iranian ship convoy suspected of carrying weapons to Huthi rebels had in fact turned around and headed north.
The nine-ship Iranian convoy was "no longer on the same course" and was now south of Salalah, Oman, they said.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin had accused Iran of trying to break the coalition naval blockade on his country, in a war he described as an "Iranian plot implemented by the Huthi militia."
The UN Security Council earlier this month imposed an arms embargo on the Huthi forces in Yemen.
AFP
