Jeddah: US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammad 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 Syrian opposition groups involved in Syria’s civil war.
Russia and Iran support Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
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.
Earlier, the US State Department said Kerry would meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva on Friday to try to close a deal on possible military cooperation and intelligence sharing in Syria. It could see Al Assad’s warplanes grounded, while Russian and US militaries coordinate strikes against Daesh.
In Saudi Arabia, talks with Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, which began late and lasted three hours, ended at 12.59am local time, US officials said.
Kerry was also due to meet Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz.
Afterwards, he was to join Adel Al Jubeir, Saudi Foreign Minister, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and British Under-Secretary for the Foreign Office Tobias Ellwood to explore ways to end Yemen’s 16-month conflict, which has killed about 6,500 people, half of them civilians.
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 the issue of aid deliveries.
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 concern in Washington that the Saudi campaign may have targeted civilian installations including hospitals.
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.”
