Yemeni Vice President Ali Mohsen Saleh criticized the Iran-backed Houthi militia for blocking international efforts to implement lasting peace in the strife-ridden country.

Mohsen highlighted the Houthis’ continued escalation across the country, including the launch of ballistic missiles and drones against Yemeni and Saudi cities and the obstruction of initiatives to resolve the Safer oil tanker issue, state news agency Saba News reported.

The vice president made his comments after meeting with diplomats from the Netherlands and Sweden and discussing ongoing peace efforts ‘to achieve permanent peace aimed at helping the Yemeni people’ and ‘to reinstate the official government and eliminate Iran-allied Houthi’ militia.

The Yemeni leader praised the significant contribution of the Netherlands and Sweden to the peace efforts, with both countries reaffirming their support for the humanitarian and relief actions in Yemen.

Houthi elements meanwhile abducted 11 individuals, including five children, in the Al-Quraishiyah district of Yemen’s central province of Al-Bayda, the state news agency reported

The kidnapping is part of the campaign by Houthis against the people of Al-Shiryaf village and villages near it, a local source told Saba New.

The militia are accused of crimes and violations against the people at Al-Shiryaf village, including storming and shelling houses, killing and injuring people among them women and children, the source added.