Soldiers loyal to Yemen's government jump off a truck during a training exercise in the country's southwestern city of Taiz, Dec. 13, 2015. (File Photo: Reuters)
The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen accused the militants on Tuesday of using three months of peace negotiations to rearm, after an escalation of fighting following the talks' suspension.
"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting. They don't have any political agenda," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri, the coalition's spokesman, told AFP.
He said the coalition, which launched strikes against the Shia Houthi rebels in March last year, would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.
Coalition warplanes resumed major strikes around the rebel-held capital Sanaa last week following the suspension of the three months of talks in Kuwait.
Since then bombing has continued, with the coalition accused of deadly strikes on a school and a hospital over the last four days.
The coalition says the suspension of talks followed increased ceasefire violations by the rebels, who are allied to forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Days before the suspension, 12 Saudi soldiers were killed in border clashes during the most serious fighting in months along the frontier.
Intensified rebel shelling last week also killed two civilians on the Saudi side of the border.
Saudi military operations in Yemen come as the kingdom battles a projected $87 billion (80 billion euro) deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed over the past two years.
Asked how long the coalition can sustain the operation, Assiri said that it is "for national security, for stability of the region. It takes whatever it takes."
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