The U.K. says peace in Yemen is nearing as the UAE gives an ominous warning.

UAE’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Qerqash, said Wednesday that the Saudi-led military coalition for Yemen will respond forcefully to any future Houthi rebels attacks on Saudi Arabia. Yet, the minister also committed to a recent UN-led peace deal.

“UAE is a member of the Saudi-led coalition that has encountered the Houthi rebels in Yemen over the past four years. Our country believes that the recent peace deal for the southern Yemeni district of Hadeeda, remains the country’s best option. Therefore, UAE will continue to back UN’s mission in Yemen, irrespective to the Iranian-backed Houthi group’s actions,” Qarqash told reporters.

According to the Alrabiya Alhadath TV channel, Huthi elements beefed up their presence and arsenal around the Hees and Tehtya areas, to the south of Hadeeda district.

Earlier, Houthi militias had fired mortar shells on a number of military posts that belong to the Yemeni army, in the Tehtya area.

Local media sources in Yemen suggested that Yemeni army forces, along with local popular resistance elements, forced, earlier on Wednesday, Houthi militias out of Qa’taba city.

The sources added that a gun battle ensued between the two sides, leading to the killing of 97 Houthi militants and the capture of 120 others, including senior members of the Houthi militias.

In the meantime, British Foreign Secretary, Jermy Hunt, was quoted as saying that peace in Yemen is getting closer and that UN peace observers need to be deployed, once the Houthi militias are withdrawn.

Over the past four years, Yemen has been hit by a civil war, after Huthi rebels engaged in a fight with the Yemeni authorities. Authorities in Yemen accuse the Huthi militias of attempting to destabilize the country, with backing from Iran.