Kerry Tackles Yemen, Syrian Conflicts in KSA Talks

Local Editor

US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, into the early hours of Thursday morning on ways to end Yemen's conflict and resume peace talks between the warring sides.

Kerry arrived in Jeddah from Nigeria for discussions with Saudi leaders and other Gulf Arab states and will also update them on US meetings with Russia addressing military cooperation in Syria, a senior US official said ahead of the talks.

Backing by Gulf nations for the Syria plan is vital because they wield influence over the so-called Syrian opposition groups involved in the Syrian war.

The talks come as Syrian militants backed by Turkish Special Forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of Daesh's [Arabic acronym for "ISIS"/ "ISIL"] last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border, in Turkey's first major US-backed incursion into its southern neighbor.

Earlier, the State Department said Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva Friday to try to close a deal on possible military cooperation and intelligence sharing in Syria.

In Saudi Arabia, talks with Mohammed bin Salman, which began late and lasted three hours, ended at 12:59 a.m. local time, US officials said.

Kerry will meet Saudi King Salman later Thursday. Afterwards, he joins foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and British Under-Secretary for the Foreign Office Tobias Ellwood, to explore ways to end Yemen's 16-month conflict, which had martyred about 6,500 people.

The Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen has come under increasing scrutiny for causing a large number of civilian casualties.

A senior State Department official declined to elaborate on Kerry's proposals.

"The multilateral meeting on Yemen is designed to share ideas and initiatives for getting the political discussions back on track and trying to get a political solution," the official said. It would also address getting aid delivered.

The US military has coordinated with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, helping ensure Saudi access to precision-guided munitions. The Pentagon had also sent US military lawyers to help train Saudi counterparts in ensuring the legality of coalition strikes.

But there has been growing concern in Washington that the Saudi campaign had targeted civilian installations including hospitals.

Human rights groups said that US forces are responsible under the rules of war for civilian casualties because of its support for the Saudi campaign.

Kerry "will raise our concerns about civilian casualties and damage to civilian targets inside Yemen," the US official said, adding that he would press the Saudis to ensure air strikes were "discriminate and precise."

An annual United Nations report on children and armed conflict said the Saudi-led campaign was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team