Saudi Arabia prepared for cease-fire in Yemen if Houthis agree

Saudi Arabia was prepared to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen if the Iran-backed Houthis agree, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday, adding that he was cynical about efforts for peace after numerous previous ceasefire attempts had failed.

The United States and Britain called on Sunday for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Yemen to end violence between Houthis and the government, which is supported by Gulf States.

Since March 2015, Yemen has been gripped by war pitting the Houthi group, backed by troops loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the internationally recognized Hadi government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said he hoped the United Nations would persuade parties in the conflict to come back to the negotiating table. He said Houthis would have to "come to their senses" and agree that Yemen was free.

A Saudi-led campaign in Yemen has come under heavy criticism since an airstrike this month on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed 140 people according to a United Nations' estimate and 82 according to the Houthis.

Jubeir said the Sunni Kingdom was being very careful to abide by humanitarian law in the Yemen conflict. He said that those responsible for the funeral bombing would be punished while victims would be compensated.

"This is the time to implement a ceasefire unconditionally and to move to the negotiating table," Kerry said after a meeting in London with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, according to the State Department. The crisis in Yemen is "now of enormous humanitarian proportions" coupled with economic crisis and fighting that is "troubling to everybody," Kerry said.

A US Navy destroyer came under fire from the Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday, in the third such incident in a week. "The [USS] Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen," Navy Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told reporters at an event in Baltimore, broadcaster NBC News said.

Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels fired missiles on a U.S. Navy destroyer last Wednesday in their first direct attack on the U.S. Navy, which has several warships close to Yemeni waters. The U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday in retaliation to failed missile attacks. The strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict. The rebels have denied the attacks, although they have repeatedly denounced Washington's backing for the Saudi-led campaign, which they usually refer to as the "American-Saudi aggression."