WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Yemeni Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi on Monday and affirmed U.S. support for the council while discussing the need to extend a U.N.-mediated truce by Oct. 2, the State Department said.

Yemen has been split by a seven-year-old war pitting a fractious coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi group. The Houthis largely hold the north and the internationally recognized government is based in the south.

  - Reuters