DUBAI, June 18 (Xinhua) -- United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Monday that three years of war in Yemen "is enough" and it is time for a political process that includes the Shiite Houthis.
"The Houthis need to be part of that process," said Gargash on his Twitter account, adding that the Houthis cannot take control of 50 percent of Yemen while they only represent 3 percent of the country's population.
The UAE's top diplomat accused the Houthis of trying to prolong the war, stressing his country's resolution to prevent the war from lasting for another two or three years.
The main three objectives of the Saudi-led coalition, of which the UAE is part, are protecting civilians, maintaining flow of humanitarian aid and forcing the transfer to a political process, according to Gargash.
He also announced humanitarian aid provided by the coalition to the Yemeni people, saying "in addition to the 1.7 million people we are providing food aid to for this month ... we will provide humanitarian aid to support 7 million Yemenis over the next two months."
The UAE is part of a Saudi-led Arab military coalition which has been fighting the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels since March 2015. More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the war that displaced over 3 million and pushed the impoverished country into the brink of famine.
Clashes between both sides around Hodeidah, a strategic port city on Yemen's western Red Sea coast which is connected through highways with the capital Sanaa held by Houthis, have been intensifying in recent weeks.
