U.S. State Department urges immediate end to hostilities in Yemen

The State Department called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in Yemen and urged the warring sides to return to U.N.-backed peace talks to end the 3-1/2-year conflict.

The department's deputy spokesman, Robert Palladino, urged the Iran-aligned Houthi group to immediately cease missile and drone strikes in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and told the Saudi-led coalition to halt air strikes in populated areas in Yemen.

"We have come to the assessment that the climate is right at this time to move forward," Palladino said referring to a resumption of U.N. peace talks after they collapsed in September.