US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the war in Yemen must end, announcing a fresh international peace initiative to resolve the 17-month conflict.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the war in Yemen must end, announcing a fresh international peace initiative to resolve the 17-month conflict.

"This war needs to end and it needs to end as quickly as possible," Kerry said after a meeting in Saudi Arabia with Gulf counterparts, a British minister and the UN envoy to Yemen.

He said participants "agreed on a renewed approach to negotiations" between the national parties and those backed by the Saudis, after three months of talks in Kuwait ended this month without making headway.

Yemen has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.

Riyadh launched the campaign against Ansarullah revolutionaries (known as Houthis) in a bid to restore power to fugitive ex-president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.

Thousands have been martyred and injured in the aggression, with the vast majority of them are civilians.