Arab coalition forces and their national Yemeni allies will push ahead with a crucial offensive to expel the coup rebels from the Southeastern town of Taiz despite UN proposals for peace talks, Yemen's vice-president has said. "The Taiz battle is nearly in its final stages. It will continue until the entire Taiz is liberated," said Khalid Bahah, also Yemen's prime minister. "Military operations will not stop because of the political developments. "What will happen on the battlefield will reflect on the negotiating table in the next few days," he told Saudi Arabia's TV news channel ‘Al Ikhbariya'. He said the allied forces would pursue plans for a major offensive to eject the coup insurgents, adding that Taiz would be liberated completely within days or weeks. "We then will sit at the negotiating table with them." Bahah added that any progress in the political process could lead to a halt in the military operations by the coalition in Yemen. "If we find that they (rebels) are intransigent again, then this means the military operations will continue."
