Ban Ki-moon Urges Saudi Arabia to Cooperate With UN Envoys to Syria, Yemen

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged Saudi Arabia to work closely with UN special envoys to Syria and Yemen, Staffan de Mistura and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed respectively, the United Nations said in a statement.

Ban met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing wars in Syria and Yemen, and regional stability, according to a statement on the UN website.

"The Secretary-General also encouraged Saudi Arabia to further work closely with his respective Special Envoys for Syria and Yemen," the statement released Tuesday said.

The UN chief urged all sides to the conflict in Yemen to take "extreme care" not to cause civilian casualties, calling for intra-Yemeni talks to be held in November.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government and an armed Houthi political opposition faction. Since late March, a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions at the request of Yemeni President-in-exile Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. According to the United Nations, over 2,600 civilians have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition began the bombing.

Ban also expressed hope that the next meeting in Vienna on the four-year Syrian civil war, scheduled to take place this weekend, would devise clear steps in the political process to end hostilities permanently.

Syria has been in a civil war since 2011, with opposition groups and Islamic extremists, including the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, fighting the Syrian Army. Saudi Arabia is part of a US-led coalition conducting airstrikes on terrorist positions in Syria, but without approval from the Damascus authority or the UN Security Council.