Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (R) meeting with a delegation of Yemen's Huthis in Riyadh — AFP RIYADH, Sept 20 (AFP): Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels put a positive spin on historic but inconclusive talks in Riyadh as diplomatic efforts increased on Wednesday to end Yemen's bitter war.
The five days of talks were "positive", Saudi officials and a senior Huthi said, after the rebel delegation ended the first public visit to the Saudi capital since hostilities broke out between the two sides.
Saudi Arabia mobilised an international military coalition against the Huthis in March 2015, months after the northern fighters with links to Tehran had seized the capital and threatened to overrun the country.
Hundreds of thousands have died in the fighting or from its impacts, including famine, and millions have been displaced in what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
As the Riyadh talks ended, the top diplomats of the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates-a key coalition member, and influential in Yemen's government-held south-met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was a "productive meeting" with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and their Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
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