Saudi Arabia, Houthis Advance Toward Long-Term Cease-Fire in Yemen

DUBAI—Saudi negotiators met with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital of San’a on Sunday to hammer out the final details of a long-term truce that could pave the way toward a lasting peace after eight years of war, officials said.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been in direct talks for months, but the prospect of ending Yemen’s seemingly intractable conflict has advanced quickly since last month, when China brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tehran has backed the Houthis since they took over swaths of Yemen in 2014, and Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab nations to dislodge the rebels in a war that created what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.