Local Editor
Top American officials called for a ceasefire in Yemen and demanded warring parties immediately come to the negotiating table.
The comments came as the Saudi-Emirati-led military coalition deployed more than 10,000 new troops towards the vital Yemeni port city of Hudaydah in the run-up to a new assault.
James Mattis, the Pentagon chief, said the US had been watching the conflict "for long enough", adding he believes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - who are in a US-backed coalition attacking Yemen since 2015 - are ready for talks.
"We have got to move toward a peace effort here, and we can't say we are going to do it sometime in the future," Mattis said at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.
"We need to be doing this in the next 30 days."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later called on the Saudi-Emirati coalition to stop air attacks in populated areas in Yemen. Pompeo said the "time is now for the cessation of hostilities" in the war-plagued country.
Mattis said the United States is calling for all factions to meet United Nations Special Envoy Martin Griffiths in Sweden in November and "come to a solution".
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the resigned regime of Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
