The United States said Wednesday it plans to sell thousands of bombs and missiles to Israel as well as 10 Seahawk helicopters to Saudi Arabia, in deals worth about $1.9 billion each, officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department informed Congress of the proposed arms sales to two allies in the Middle East that are both wary of Washington's negotiations with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran said on Wednesday its aid ship bound for war-torn Yemen is to dock in Djibouti for inspection, heading off a potential confrontation with the United States.

The aid "will be inspected in Djibouti. The ship will dock in Djibouti and the protocol laid down by the United Nations will be implemented," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, quoted by the ISNA news agency.

A United Nations conference to re-launch political talks in Yemen will open in Geneva next week, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday, despite uncertainty over who will attend the gathering.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the May 28 meeting was to "restore momentum towards a Yemeni-led political transition process" after weeks of conflict that have left 1,850 dead.

Saudi-led warplanes intensified their air strikes against Yemeni rebels in the capital Wednesday, fueling panic as political efforts to end a war that has displaced half a million people foundered.

The Arab coalition has waged an air campaign against the Iran-backed Shiite rebels since March 26 in an effort to restore the authority of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Riyadh.

A conference of Yemeni political factions on Tuesday vowed support for "resistance" forces battling anti-government rebels, while laying a political foundation for the country's future.

"We support this resistance to go on fighting", exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi told about 300 delegates at the close of a three-day meeting in Riyadh.

The United Nations said more than half a million people have been displaced in the conflict in Yemen, whose capital was bombarded Tuesday for the first time since a ceasefire ended.

Hopes faded for a political breakthrough in the two-month conflict as a U.N.-sponsored peace conference originally set for next week was put on hold due to the resumption of fighting.

French police arrested around a dozen suspects on Monday in connection with a spectacular robbery on the convoy of a Saudi prince in Paris last year that netted the thieves 250,000 euros.

The suspects were picked up in the Paris region and are now in custody, a police source told AFP.

The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen on Monday blamed ceasefire violations by Iran-backed rebels for the resumption of air strikes after a five-day truce aimed at delivering desperately needed aid.

Iran, a key ally of the Shiite Huthi rebels, called for an end to the "barbaric" Saudi bombing, and said Riyadh was not a suitable host for political talks.

Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani sentenced to death for drug smuggling on Sunday, bringing to 84 the number of executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom this year, the interior ministry said.

Iftikhar Ahmed Mohammed Anayat was found guilty of attempting to traffic heroin into the kingdom in balloons concealed in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

A U.N. envoy called for an extension of a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen due to expire later Sunday as the Huthi Shiite rebels boycotted political talks in Riyadh.

The appeal followed clashes between rebels and pro-government forces across south Yemen on Saturday despite the truce, which has largely held since starting at 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) Tuesday.