Fisticuffs broke out Thursday at a Geneva press conference by Yemeni rebels when their leader was attacked by a slipper-wielding woman as the UN's mediator scrambled to revive deadlocked peace talks.

The dramatic attack underscored the deep divisions between the various sides involved in trying to get Iran-backed rebels and the Saudi-backed exiled government to agree to a badly-needed humanitarian truce.

Ansarullah member Hamza al-Huthi, who heads the rebel delegation at the talks, was addressing reporters when a woman in a headscarf barged in and threw a slipper at him.

The delegate, whose Shiite group is more commonly known as the Huthis, promptly threw it back.

She was quickly joined by six men who shouted slogans against the rebels and started raining blows at them, screaming, "Killers, you are spreading death and disease in South Yemen."

The melee lasted several minutes with bottles hurled before the intruders were hauled out.

The woman's gesture was immediately hailed on social media in Aden, the main port city in South Yemen, with congratulatory tweets.

Once order was restored, Al-Huthi said the rebels wanted "a humanitarian truce but it is not wanted by Saudi Arabia and its allies" who launched air strikes in Yemen on March 26.

- 'War benefits Al-Qaeda' -

The rebel delegate said the stalled talks would continue until at least Friday, adding: "We hope these preliminary talks will end up in some kind of accord... a transition that will hopefully lead to free, fair and transparent elections."

He accused the Saudis of using "nitrogen bombs and other horrible arms" to "massacre women and children" and said Al-Qaeda in Yemen was "exploiting the situation and using the aggression to extend its influence over the region."

Yaser al-Awadi, another member of the rebel delegation, said the "Yemen war has become an economic investment for Britain, France and the United States."

"Their arms factories are working full-time for two months to furnish and supply arms," he said.

"Our women and children are being used as guinea pigs to test new arms," Awadi said at the chaotic press conference.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched the high-stakes negotiations on Monday with an appeal for a badly-needed two-week humanitarian truce during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

The negotiations, in their fourth day, have been bogged down by the government's insistence that the rebels must withdraw from the vast territory they control, including the capital Sanaa.

It has also protested the size of the rebel delegation which is more than double the agreed number of 10.

Awadi described the demand from the government delegation and the UN for the rebels to whittle down their numbers as "nonsense".

"We represent 13 political parties and we're not going to allow one political party to speak for the other," he told reporters.

"Each one must be represented. Everyone must represent themselves around one table," he said.

Huthi rebels and their allies, troops faithful to ousted president Ali Abdallah Saleh, favour a truce but are refusing to withdraw as demanded by the government in exile.

Un spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the the UN's special envoy for Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had a "very constructive conversation" with the rebel side on Wednesday evening.

"He is now shuttling between delegations in their hotels," he told AFP, adding that the envoy on Thursday had met with the government delegation.

"And he's working the phones constantly," Fawzi said.

Yemen peace talks stalled, to discuss local ceasefires
Geneva (AFP) June 18, 2015 - Yemen's warring parties were on Thursday set to discuss the possibility of localised ceasefires, as stalled UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva showed no signs of moving towards an overall truce.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched the high-stakes negotiations on Monday with an appeal for a badly-needed two-week humanitarian truce.

But with that looking increasingly unlikely, Thursday's morning session will focus on the chance of ceasefires in separate small towns, a source close to the negotiations told AFP.

But this too appeared to be an uphill task with the two sides taking diametrically opposing stands.

"We discussed the truce but the other side is setting unacceptable conditions," rebel delegation member Hassan Zeid told AFP late Wednesday, adding that the government was demanding a rebel retreat from Aden and Taez, where fighting is raging.

The negotiations, entering their fourth day, have been bogged down by the government's insistence that the Iran-backed rebels must withdraw from the vast territory they control, including the capital Sanaa.

It has also protested the size of the rebel delegation which is more than double of the pre-agreed number of 10.

Huthi rebels and their allies, troops faithful to ousted president Ali Abdallah Saleh, favour a truce but are refusing to withdraw as demanded by the government in exile, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

- Hardline stance -

A Saudi-led Arab coalition launched aerial raids on rebel positions on March 26, which are still continuing.

The Geneva talks were supposed to end Thursday but they have been extended by a day at least, both sides told AFP.

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has urged the warring sides to bend, stressing the dire situation in Yemen where more than 2,600 people have been killed since March and about 21 million people are in severe need of humanitarian aid.

But the belligerents' positions are so far apart that they are not sitting in the same room and the UN is holding separate consultations with them.

The exiled government's delegation meanwhile attracted controversy after Abdel Wahab al-Humayqani, who heads the hardline Islamist Al-Rashad party in Yemen, took part in the opening of the peace talks, where he was photographed with Ban Ki-moon.

He figures on a US blacklist for being a suspected Al-Qaeda backer.

Humayqani, who was added to the US blacklist in December 2013 suspected of financing Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also figures on a list of delegates of the government in exile, as a representative of Al-Rashad.

"I categorically deny these accusations and challenge the United States to prove them," he told AFP.

"I am ready to appear before Yemeni justice to disprove them," he added.

Yemen has been wracked by conflict between Iran-backed Shiite rebels and troops loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia in February.