Kerry pushes for Yemen peace in Jeddah talks

Jeddah - Kerry warned that arms shipments from Iran to rebels in Yemen pose a threat to the United States that "cannot continue."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday the war in Yemen must end, announcing a fresh international peace initiative to resolve the 17-month conflict.
"This war needs to end and it needs to end as quickly as possible," Kerry said after a meeting in Saudi Arabia with Gulf counterparts, a British minister and the UN envoy to Yemen.
Kerry also joined foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as a British official, at the Royal Terminal near Jeddah to explore ways to end an 18-month Yemeni war.
He said participants "agreed on a renewed approach to negotiations" between the Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels, after three months of talks in Kuwait ended this month without making headway.
Kerry warned that arms shipments from Iran to rebels in Yemen pose a threat to the United States that "cannot continue."
"The threat potentially posed by the shipment of missiles and other sophisticated weapons into Yemen from Iran extends well beyond Yemen and is not a threat just to Saudi Arabia and... the region," Kerry told reporters in Jeddah.
"It is a threat to the United States and it cannot continue."
Kerry also met the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and the country's deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday to discuss ways to end conflict in Yemen and resume peace talks between the warring sides.
"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," a senior State Department official said. It would also address getting aid delivered.
The State Department said Kerry will meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday to try to close a deal on military cooperation and intelligence sharing in Syria. It could see Assad's warplanes grounded, while Russian and US forces coordinate strikes against Daesh. - Agencies
The US military has coordinated with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, helping ensure Saudi access to precision-guided munitions. The Pentagon has also sent US military lawyers to help train Saudi counterparts in ensuring the legality of coalition strikes. - Agencies
The talks come as Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of Daesh's last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border, in Turkey's first major US-backed incursion into its southern neighbour.
A Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen in support of the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Iran-allied Houthis has come under increasing scrutiny for causing a large number of civilian casualties.
In Geneva, the UN human rights office said on Thursday that air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition are responsible for the largest part of the 3,799 civilians killed so far and it has committed other violations that may contravene international law.
The US military has coordinated with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, helping ensure Saudi access to precision-guided munitions. The Pentagon has 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 may have targeted civilian installations including hospitals.
Human rights groups have argued that US forces may also be responsible under the rules of war for civilian casualties because of its support for the Saudi campaign.
A senior State Department official declined to elaborate on Kerry's proposals.
that has killed about 6,500 people, half of them civilians
, adding that he would press the Saudis to ensure air strikes were "discriminate and precise"

• MENA