Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds a meeting with Yemeni chief of Military Staff Col. Mohammed bin Ali Al-Maqdashi in Riyadh on Sunday. (SPA)

Yemen’s much-violated cease-fire will be extended for seven days after it officially expires Monday, the head of the government negotiation team said Sunday at UN-brokered talks in Switzerland.

“The truce will be extended for seven more days and will then be automatically extended if it is respected by the other party,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel Malak Al-Mekhlafi told reporters in Bern, referring to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

A missile fired from Yemen has struck a Saudi border city, killing three civilians.

Saturday’s attack on Najran left one Saudi citizen and two Indian workers dead, according to a Civil Defense spokesman quoted by SPA.

Najran citizens on Sunday observed funeral prayers after Fajr for Hamad Ali Yasin Al-Hataila, 40, the Saudi victim of the attack, and laid him to rest in the city.

The two Indians came from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They were identified by Najran-based Indian community representatives as Mohammed from Madurai and Antony from Kallakurichi in Viluppuram district.

Militias of the Houthis and deposed President Abdullah Saleh on Sunday failed to launch two ballistic missies from Sanaa toward Saudi territory, military sources said.

This comes amidst a series of such failures, the sources said.

Meanwhile, military sources in Yemen said forces of the national army and popular resistance are within 40km of Sanaa.

Forces of the national army and popular resistance gained control over Khaniq region, Nahm province, Sanaa, which is parallel to Marab province, the sources said.

In a related development, units of the national army and popular resistance forces on the northeastern front regained control over Al-Hajr and Al-Mashaf on the Sanaa-Marab-Jouf road.

This progress allowed the national army and popular resistance units to station one kilometer from Jouf Junction.

In Switzerland, Yemen’s warring parties wrapped up peace talks on Sunday with no major breakthrough but vowed to meet again next month, even as fighting raged on the ground.

The six days of closed-door meetings were strained by repeated violations of a cease-fire.

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced in Bern that a new round of talks would be held on Jan. 14 at a location yet to be decided.

Related articles across the web

• Yemen Peace Talks Have Been Suspended
• Two ballistic missiles fired at Saudi Arabia from Yemen
• Houthi Terms, Not Sa'udi:
• Coalition forces: Yemen truce could collapse
• Saudi tribal force tasked with protecting Yemen border
• BOTH Yemeni sides agree to prisoner swap as peace talks underway in Switzerland
• Yemeni rebels halt Swiss peace talks
• Mass prisoner swap under way in Yemen
• Besieged Yemen city to get aid
• Yemen: Ceasefire Begins