Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed

A ceasefire took effect in Yemen on Dec. 15, as parties to the civil war started United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland in a new push to end months of fighting that have killed nearly 6,000 people, a U.N. spokesman said. 

The United Nations on Sept. 10 said peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in Yemen are set to resume next week in the region and urged all parties to participate "in good faith." 

A car bomb exploded outside a mosque in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on July 7, killing at least one person and wounding five, in a fresh attack on Shiite rebels claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Saudi-led warplanes bombed the Sanaa headquarters of the Yemeni party headed by rebel-allied former president Ali Abdullah Saleh overnight, the party said as officials reported 46 killed in other strikes.

Fighting gripped Yemen's second city Aden on July 5 as the UN envoy arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa to press efforts to broker a ceasefire.

The United Nations on June 17 extended stalled Yemen peace talks taking place in Geneva, with both the exiled government and the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels accusing each other of trying to sabotage the process.

The head of the United Nations opened peace talks on Yemen on June 15 with a call for a humanitarian ceasefire, saying the country was on the verge of a collapse that the Middle East could not withstand. 

Ban Ki-moon said the truce, called to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan, should last for at least two weeks to allow life-saving supplies into the country. 

Yemen's warring factions will come together for the first time in Geneva June 15 in a bid to resolve the bloody conflict between Iran-backed Shiite rebels and the government of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Saudi-led coalition air strikes resumed against rebel positions in Yemen's south after a five-day ceasefire expired late May 18, despite a UN envoy's calls for an extension of the truce.

With cargo ships poised to launch a desperately needed aid operation in embattled Yemen, a five-day humanitarian ceasefire began May 12 night, just hours after Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck against Shiite rebels and their allies.