Blinken speaks with Saudi foreign minister on Yemen war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud about diplomatic efforts to end the war in Yemen. US State Department and Saudi state media said that the two ministers discussed the need ti find political solution to the war in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that intervened in Yemen 2015 and backed government forces against Houthi rebels. UN has called the subsequent war the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.

Saudi state media and the state department said the two ministers also discussed the need to find a political solution to the war in Yemen.

On Wednesday, the Houthis said that they carried out drone attack on Abha airport in Saudi Arabia.

Blinken and al Saud "discussed joint efforts to bolster Saudi defenses against attacks on the Kingdom," the State Department said in a statement.

U.S. President Joe Biden last week named veteran U.S. diplomat Tim Lenderking as a U.S. special envoy to Yemen in a bid to step up American diplomacy to end the war.

The new administration in Washington has also announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

(With Reuters inputs)