Timothy Lenderking, President Biden’s new special envoy for Yemen, is in Saudi Arabia this week. Current and former US officials told Foreign Policy that Lenderking’s trip is meant to send a signal to Riyadh about the seriousness of the Biden administration’s desire to end the war in Yemen.
The trip comes after President Biden announced he was ending all US “offensive” support for Saudi Arabia’s operations in Yemen. As part of this effort, Biden said he would end “relevant” arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and two deals for precision-guided munitions to the Saudis were paused indefinitely.
In his announcement, Biden said that he was appointing Lenderking to look for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Lenderking is set to meet with representatives of the Saudi-backed Yemen government and Martin Griffiths, the UN’s envoy for Yemen.
Saudi state media said Lenderking met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Wednesday. “Developments concerning Yemen were discussed, and joint efforts to support reaching a comprehensive political solution to the Yemen crisis were reviewed,” the news report said.
The Biden administration has also announced that it was reversing the terror designation of Yemen’s Houthis. The Trump administration listed the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization despite warnings from the UN and aid groups that it would push millions into famine.
While Biden said he is cutting off “offensive” support, questions remain over the US-supported blockade on Yemen and other aspects of the war.
Throughout the war that has been raging since March 2015, the US-backed Saudi-led coalition has regularly targeted civilian infrastructure. Due to the coalition’s siege tactics, Yemenis have been facing widespread disease, severe food shortages, and mass starvation.
Still the same issue. I do not see it resolved.
What does US wants out of the war? Until that is clear, we are just stuck in a circle . Endless circle. Why is US participating in blockade. Blockade not war is causing shortage of food and medicine. Shortage are unnecessary not to mention illegal under every known international law of war. There will be many countries willing and able to help with food, medicine, doctors, etc. Only Turkey tried it once — sending ship of supplies, just to be blocked by US. Saudis do not have the navy capable of enforcing such a comprehensive blockade
So, what is up? What kind of Yemen US wants, and why are others willing to go on with the atrocities of war, and not accept US demands for ending it? What are the demands?
Until someone asks the darn question of our leaders, the farce will go on. We are kind of not involved — but without our agreeing to political solution, the war cannot end.
But many others are keeping quiet. Maning do not ever try to stop your opponent when it is making a mistake.