BBC Yemen Update, page-544

Houthis Threaten to Foil Griffiths’ Mission in Yemen
Monday, 4 June, 2018 - 06:15

Sanaa - Abu Dhabi - Asharq Al-Awsat
Houthis threatened on Sunday to foil the mission of the UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, who kicked off his second round of talks with leaders of the rebel group in Sana’a ahead of presenting his peace plan on Yemen to the Security Council this month.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the so-called Supreme Revolutionary Committee and cousin of Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi, said on Twitter that the salaries of employees in the rebel-controlled areas should be paid before Houthis accept to hold talks with the UN envoy.
He also threatened to foil the efforts of Griffiths the same way rebels halted the mission of his Mauritanian predecessor Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed.
Meanwhile, as Yemen's armed forces were moving closer to the western coastline to retake the vital Red Sea port city of Hodeidah from Houthis, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition pounded on Sunday insurgent positions in the area, killing more than 100 rebels in the past two days.
UAE’s news agency, WAM, reported Sunday that Coalition fighter jets and artillery have targeted Iranian-backed Houthi militias' locations and assemblies in the Tahita, Al-Barrah and Al-Madman districts which resulted in the destruction of their military reinforcements and equipment and the killing of a number of insurgents.
Many rebels fled from the battlefronts to the mountains, the agency said.
It also said that “thirty members of the Houthi militia were killed in air raids of the Arab Coalition fighter jets and in clashes with the Yemeni Resistance Forces in the Red Sea Coast, bringing the death toll of the militias in the past 24 hours to more than 100.”
According to WAM, the qualitative and devastating air strikes have confused the militias and weakened their military capabilities amid the accelerated advance of Yemeni Resistance forces towards Hodeidah Airport and its strategic harbor.
The joint Yemeni Resistance Forces have captured a number of Houthis and destroyed their defenses and fortifications in the Red Sea Coast, while a number of medium and heavy weapons were found after they fled from the battlefields, the agency added.