(Bloomberg) --

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels, slamming US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, said they would not agree to extend a truce in the seven-year war.

“We reject any outcomes for the American president’s visit to the region that touch the sovereignty, security and stability of Yemen,” the Houthi ruling political council said in a statement on Saturday.

After Biden met with officials in his trip there this week, the White House in a statement said that Saudi Arabia had committed to extending and strengthening a UN-mediated truce in Yemen and will engage in talks to end the war that’s roiled the Persian Gulf and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

All sides in the seven-year-old war agreed to a two-month truce in April, renewing the arrangement for a further two months in June. The White House statement suggested the fragile cease-fire will once again be extended. 

The Houthi rebels said, however, that the truces represented “a frustrating experience” that cannot be repeated in the future. Still, their statement appeared to leave the door open to some negotiation if any truce is respected by the Saudis and their allies in the war.

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