ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, local media said, lending support to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh after he signalled he was abandoning his support of the Iran-aligned Houthis - a shift that could pave the way to end three years of war.

In a speech on Saturday, Saleh appeared to indicate the end of his loyalists’ alliance with Houthi fighters. He said he was ready to turn a “new page” in ties with the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, if it stopped attacks on Yemeni citizens and lifted a siege.

Residents on Sunday, however, said a coalition air strike overnight killed 12 Yemeni civilians in one family in the northern province of Saada, the home territory of the Houthis. The attack could not be verified.

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said on Sunday coalition aircraft pounded Houthi outposts in southern Sanaa overnight, but gave no details on casualties.

Separately, the Houthis, who together with Saleh’s loyalists, control most of northern Yemen, said they had fired a cruise missile towards a nuclear power plant under construction in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a report quickly denied by the UAE.—Reuters