SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Sunday they will accept a five-day humanitarian cease-fire proposed by Saudi Arabia, even as a new round of Saudi airstrikes targeted the home of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key Houthi supporter.

Saleh, once a Saudi ally, denounced the “cowardly” attacks and for the first time publicly declared his allegiance to Ansar Allah, as the Houthis are known.

Statements from various Houthi leaders and their military allies in Yemen indicated that the rebel group would cooperate with the proposed cease-fire, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Saudi officials proposed the cease-fire last week.

But it remained unclear how the truce would take hold in the war-ravaged nation, where fighting involving various armed factions is raging along multiple fronts as Saudi-led airstrikes have caused massive damage and loss of life.

Both sides in the conflict have warned that any violations of the planned cease-fire would bring renewed attacks.

United Nations aid officials had called for a cease-fire to help ease the suffering of civilians in the Arab world’s poorest nation, wracked by shortages of food, fuel and medicine since the Saudi-led bombing began on March 26.

Saudi Arabia, whose leadership views neighboring Yemen as part of its sphere of influence, says its bombardment is meant to restore the internationally backed government of ousted President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now in exile in Saudi Arabia. The Obama administration has supported the Saudi bombing campaign.

The Houthi rebels, who had placed Hadi under house arrest before he fled the country, accuse Riyadh of working with al-Qaida gunmen and other militias in an attempt to dominate Yemen.

Saudi officials view the Houthis as a proxy for Iran, Riyadh’s major regional rival for influence in the region. The Houthis say their alliance with Iran is political and not military.

Saleh, who apparently was not home when his residence in Sanaa was bombed, denounced the attacks as “barbaric aggression” and declared his support for the Houthis, whose rise to power sparked the 6-week-old Saudi air campaign.

It was widely known that Saleh and military units loyal to him had sided with the Houthis, whose forces seized Sanaa, the capital, last September, and later expanded their control elsewhere in the nation. But this appears to be the first time that Saleh has publicly declared his allegiance to the Houthis.

The United Nations says more than 1,400 people have been killed and about 6,000 injured in Yemen since the conflict escalated in March, while more than 300,000 people have fled the nation.