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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched Yemen peace talks in Geneva Monday with a call for a humanitarian truce after warplanes from a Saudi-led Arab coalition pounded the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa overnight, Reuters reports.

More than 2,600 people have been killed since the coalition began military operations in March to stop the Iranian-backed Houthi militia moving on Aden and to shore up embattled President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi, then in the southern city.

Ban said the truce, called to mark the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan later this week, should last for at least two weeks to allow lifesaving supplies into the country. “Today Yemen’s very existence hangs in the balance. While the parties bicker, Yemen burns,” he told reporters.

Fighting raged throughout Yemen’s south and center Monday, in clashes pitting tribesmen and pro-Hadi militiamen against the Houthis and their army allies.

Airstrikes hit Houthi positions in Sanaa and in the nearby province of al-Dhalea to back up local armed fighters, who exchanged heavy artillery salvos with the Houthis.