Eight Houthi miltias were killed and 11 others injured during clashes with the Yemeni Popular Resistance - allied to internationally-recognized President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi – in the southwestern city of Taez, Al Arabiya New Channel reported on Wednesday. Three members of the popular resistance were also injured in the clashes, Al Arabiya's Yemen-based correspondent reported. Meanwhile, Saudi-led airstrikes on Houthi fighters in the oil-producing Marib province also killed 10 Houthis, tribal sources told Reuters. The clashes erupted ahead of U.N.-sponsored talks in Geneva next week aimed at ending a conflict that has drawn in Saudi Arabia and some of its allies on one side and the Iranian-backed Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on the other. Representatives of Hadi's government are scheduled to begin talks in Geneva with representatives of the Houthi group and Saleh's General People's Congress party on Sunday, amid reports of disagreements about the agenda. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting in Yemen, which escalated sharply after Saudi-led Arab forces waded into the conflict in March to try to shore up Hadi and stop the Houthis advancing on areas held by his supporters.
