US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) is accompanied by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (C-R) as he is greeted upon his arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, on August 24, 2016.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry 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.

The talks come as Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of ISIS’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border, in Turkey’s first major US-backed incursion into its southern neighbor. In Saudi Arabia, talks with the deputy crown princ, which began late and lasted three hours, ended at 12:59 a.m. local time, US officials said.

Kerry will meet Saudi Arabia’s King Salman later on Thursday. Afterwards, he joins foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and British Under-Secretary for the Foreign Office Tobias Ellwood, to explore ways to end Yemen’s 16-month conflict.

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 getting aid delivered.

The US military has coordinated with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, helping ensure Saudi access to precision-guided munitions. Kerry “will raise our concerns about civilian casualties and damage to civilian targets inside Yemen,” the US official said.

Kerry meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (SPA)

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