The failure of the latest cease-fire in Yemen suggests a long process of attrition is ahead. Neither side appears interested in a political settlement. The de facto partition of the country is increasingly likely.

The 72-hour truce barely ended before Saudi and coalition airstrikes resumed on targets in the rebel-controlled cities in northern Yemen. The United Nations had said the truce was mostly holding, but the coalition charged that the Zaydi Houthis and loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had violated it repeatedly. Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and UAE Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed met during the cease-fire and apparently agreed to resume the war.

Saudi-backed Prime Minister Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has rejected a United Nations road map for starting a political process. Hadi and the coalition remain committed to the 2015 UN Security Council resolution that demands Hadi's return to power in Sanaa and the rebels' disarmament. As long as that resolution remains the basis for negotiations, the war will go on.

The rebels fired a Scud missile at Mecca, according to Saudi accounts, after the war resumed. This is the second alleged attempt by the rebels to hit Mecca that was intercepted by Saudi air defenses. The attacks on the holy city have been widely condemned in the region. The Houthis said their target was the airport at Jeddah, not Mecca.