Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, said Kerry’s remarks show the US government is “an accomplice in Saudi war crimes against the innocent people of Yemen”.
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(Updates with meeting with Saudi King Salman) By Lesley Wroughton JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Secretary of State John Kerry met Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and the country’s powerful deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday to discuss ways to end conflict in Yemen and resume peace talks between the warring sides.
For their part, Saudi Arabia’s coalition partners, notably the U.S. and UAE, are likely to reduce their support for the Saudi campaign against the Houthi, instead diverting resources to fight the Sunni jihadists in south Yemen.
Kerry said the worldwide response to Yemen’s civil war had fallen short of the region’s needs, and pledged a renewed political and security approach to resume talks.
It will also include the “withdrawal of forces from Sanaa and other key areas”, and the “transfer of all heavy weapons including ballistic missiles and launchers from the Houthis and forces allied with them to a third party”.
“We now encourage the Houthis and their supporters to back this plan”, Kerry said, referring to Iran, the main ally of the Shia rebels that have controlled the country’s capital city Sanaa since September 2014. It also continues to sell Saudi Arabia weapons.
They also coincide with the United Nations human rights chief’s call for an worldwide investigation into rights abuses and violence in Yemen’s civil war, which has killed more than 9,000 people, including almost 3,800 civilians, and displaced three million.
The most recent of these attacks, in Hajjah province, killed 19 and left 24 wounded.
The U.S. has backed the Saudi-led coalition with arms sales worth billions of dollars and with logistic and intelligence support.
IS has also claimed deadly bombing and shooting attacks against the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia and its security forces.
He said details would be finalized by the “parties themselves”.
He also criticized the global response to the crisis in Yemen and pledged $189 million in a new USA aid for the humanitarian crisis marring the country, considered the poorest in the Middle East. “It has to stop”, Kerry told reporters in a press conference in Jiddah. That brings the total USA humanitarian aid package to Yemen to more than $327 million in fiscal year 2016, the State Department said. Human rights groups have argued that USA forces may also be responsible under the rules of war for civilian casualties because of its support for the Saudi campaign.
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“It isn’t just about casualties, but really about a devastating humanitarian crisis that is threatening people’s access to food and health care”, she said.
