YEMEN — on Thursday, Yemen’s dominant Houthis agreed to join United Nations-backed peace talks in Geneva planned for June 14, a day after their opponents in the exiled government confirmed their attendance.

A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has been bombing Houthi forces, the strongest faction in Yemen’s civil war, for more than two months in an attempt to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia. 

Around 2,000 people have been killed and half a million displaced by the fighting.

Coalition Arab bombings killed around 40 people across Yemen on Wednesday, the state news agency Saba, controlled by the Houthis reported.