Top Yemeni commander wounded in rebel drone strike dies

Aden, Feb 3 (AFP) Yemen's deputy chief of staff died Sunday from wounds sustained last month in a drone attack by Huthi rebels on the country's largest air base, the information minister said. "Major General Saleh al-Zandani, deputy chief of staff, was martyred while undergoing treatment after he was wounded in the terrorist bombing at the Al-Anad base," Moammer al-Eryani wrote on Twitter.

Zandani was among 11 wounded in the January 10 drone attack on a military parade at the base in Lahij, a province some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Yemen's second city Aden. Seven other loyalists -- including a high-ranking intelligence official -- were killed in the attack.

It came less than a month after the United Nations brokered a truce between Yemen's Huthi rebels and a regional pro-government military alliance. Yemen is mired in a grinding conflict between the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and a government backed up by a Saudi-led coalition.

The war has killed nearly 10,000 people since the Saudi-led intervention in 2015 and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN. The warring sides agreed on truce deals for the key rebel-held aid port of Hodeida and battleground third city Taez at UN peace talks in Sweden in December.

Jordan is set to host fresh talks aimed at drafting a political framework for Yemen. (AFP) SCY SCY