11 civilians killed in airstrikes in northern Yemen

The strike on the transformer in Najran which lies just across the Yemen border, marked a rare hit on Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure despite months of periodic bombardment of the area.

In January, the Houthis – who are Shia – seized the presidential palace in the capital Sanaa and forced then leader Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to resign.

In Yemen, its internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition are battling the rebels known as Houthis and their allies. The new plan is that they could now move ahead in parallel, making it easier for Al Houthis to agree while heading for the same destination.

Kerry said the global 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.

The reference to handing weapons to a third party also appeared to be a departure from the government demands. “This has a clarity to it about how confidence can be built, what the end game looks like, and how the parties get there”.

The United States and Gulf states have discussed a new plan to join Houthi militia group in a unity government for ending conflict in Yemen.

“Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is very bad”, he told reporters.

Scores of Houthi rebels were killed Saturday in Saudi-led attacks and clashes with pro-government forces across war-torn 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 that has killed about 6,500 people, half of them civilians.

Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition are responsible for the deaths of some 60 percent of the 3,799 civilians killed since March 2015, and the country has committed other violations that may contravene worldwide law, the office said in a report. A bipartisan group of senators is moving to block a $1.15 billion sale of U.S. tanks to the kingdom, citing concerns over human rights and the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Kerry flew to Jeddah on Wednesday night from Nigeria.

Yemen’s Supreme Political Council says it is ready to restart peace talks if the regime in Riyadh stops attacking the impoverished Arab country. Russian Federation and Iran, however, are strong backers of the Syrian president and have been accused of targeting moderate opposition forces, some of whom are supported by Washington and Gulf Arab states. Russian Federation and Iran support Assad. The two spoke briefly about the monarch’s health and an operation he had in the United States, apparently for back pain.

The U.S. has backed the Saudi-led coalition with arms sales worth billions of dollars and with logistic and intelligence support.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco said that all of its facilities in the kingdom were operating normally, following a report by an Iranian television station that a facility had been hit by a Yemeni missile.