US Presses Need For Yemen Cease Fire In Talks With Oman - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2021) US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stressed the importance of a negotiated halt in fighting between rival factions in Yemen's civil war as a key to regional security in a meeting with Oman Deputy Foreign Minister Khalifa Al Harthy in the Omani capital of Muscat, the State Department said in a readout of the session on Tuesday.

"The Deputy Secretary also thanked the Deputy Foreign Minister for Oman's role in mediating peace in the region and underscored the importance of an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire to help bring the war in Yemen to an end," the readout said.

Sherman credited Oman for mediating peace negotiation in other regional conflicts and cited a "comprehensive ceasefire in neighboring Yemen" as a step toward ending the war in Yemen.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces and Houthi rebels for nearly seven years. The conflict is widely viewed as a proxy war pitting a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states against Iran, which the US accuses of arming the Houthis and facilitating attacks on Saudi targets with missiles and drones from Houthi positions.

In addition to the armed hostilities, Yemen continues to suffer from famine and an ongoing cholera outbreak with the COVID-19 pandemic further worsening the nation's economic and humanitarian crises.