Al Jazeera:

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said late on Tuesday that it would halt military operations from Wednesday, following a United Nations’ call for a truce during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The UN has been working with the Saudi-led military alliance and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which have been at war since 2015, to secure a peace deal and alleviate a dire humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country.

The truce is the most significant step in peace efforts in more than three years as the international community has struggled to end a seven year conflict that has killed tens of thousands and left millions on the brink of starvation.

See also: Blinken Assures UAE Leader Of U.S. Defence Help Over Houthi Attacks, Iran

Just Security:

Seven years into a bloody civil war and twelve years into an intensive counterterrorism campaign in Yemen, the United States finds itself entangled in a messy regional proxy fight. The United States has been deeply compromised by its support for a Saudi-led coalition that has contributed to a horrific war, political instability, and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As we approach the seventh anniversary of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, it is no longer clear why the United States is fighting or how the use of force will promote U.S. and regional security interests. What is clear is that U.S. operations in Yemen have contributed to the current unstable situation, and that military force alone will not bring peace to the country or secure the United States from the threats it sought to counter in the first place.

See also:
–7 Years Into The Conflict, Yemeni Civilians Continue To Bear The Brunt Of War As Bombardments Rise By 43%, Warns IRC
–Yemen: Water Crisis Exacerbates ‘Worst’ Humanitarian Crisis

Miami Herald:

The ghastly blockade and bombardment of Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is now entering its eighth year. Last fall, the United Nations estimated that the Yemen death toll would top 377,000 people by the end of 2021.

The United States continues to supply spare parts for Saudi/UAE coalition war planes, along with maintenance and a steady flow of armaments. Without this support, the Saudis couldn’t continue their murderous aerial attacks.

Yet, tragically, instead of condemning atrocities committed by the Saudi/UAE invasion, bombing and blockade of Yemen, the United States is cozying up to these countries’ leaders. As sanctions against Russia disrupt global oil sales, the United States is entering talks to become increasingly reliant on Saudi and UAE oil production. And Saudi Arabia and the UAE don’t want to increase their oil production without a U.S. agreement to help them increase their attacks against Yemen.

Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft:

American involvement in supporting Saudi-led military action against the Houthis in Yemen, rather than helping to resolve the conflict as the Biden administration claims, is prolonging and escalating the violence. By continuing to support Saudi and Emirati aggression, the U.S. not only deepens its complicity in the slaughter of Yemen’s civilian population; it also risks getting dragged into more active participation in the war on behalf of these two Arab security partners.

See also:
–U.S. Sends Patriot Missiles To Saudi Arabia, Fulfilling Urgent Request
–As Ukraine Bleeds We Forget The Horror Of Yemen’s ‘Forgotten War’
–Yemen Houthis Say U.N. Calls For Truce In Ramadan ‘A Positive Step’ -Spokesman

The Washington Post:

The Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday invited warring sides in Yemen for talks aimed at ending the civil war in the Arab world’s most impoverished country, a conflict now in its eight year.

However, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have already rejected Riyadh — the Saudi capital were the GCC is headquartered — as venue for talks. A Saudi-led coalition has been at war in Yemen since 2015, seeking to restore the internationally recognized government to power. The Saudis have been trying to oust the Houthis from key territories, such as the capital of Sanaa, which the rebels control.

The Houthis said they would not attend talks in Riyadh, saying Saudi Arabia cannot be a mediator or host since it’s a party in the war. The Houthis say they would instead be open to talks in a “neutral country.” GCC member states Kuwait and Oman have attempted to mediate in the past.

The Intercept:

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, backed by the United States, have waged a relentless war against their impoverished neighbor Yemen in a bid to reinstate the pro-Saudi government toppled by a popular uprising. The unrest gave way to an armed rebellion led by the Houthis, which Riyadh accuses of being an Iranian proxy group. The United Nations has described Yemen as the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe. The World Food Program estimates that half of all the country’s children under 5, about 2.3 million kids, are at risk of acute malnutrition, with 400,000 at risk of dying if they don’t receive treatment, according to a spokesperson for the organization who asked not to be named because even the U.N. fears the consequences of criticizing Saudi Arabia.

See also:
–UN Aid Drive To Avert Yemen Catastrophe Falls Far Short
–U.S. Pledges $585 Mln In New Aid For Yemen In 2022 -Blinken
–A Tale Of Two Wars: Biden Decries Russian Atrocities In Ukraine While Backing Saudi/UAE War In Yemen

Al-Monitor:

Gulf Arab countries are seeking to host rare talks between Yemen’s warring parties, including the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, in Riyadh at the end of the month, officials said on Tuesday.

Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has been wracked by a devastating war since 2014, pitting the Huthis against the internationally recognised government.

Repeated diplomatic efforts to get the two sides to agree a peace deal have failed over the years.

The Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council “is considering holding talks between Yemen’s warring parties to put an end to the conflict”, an official from the six-nation bloc, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday.

See also: Yemen War Now ‘Chronic Emergency’ As Millions Face Hunger

The Progressive:

The war in Yemen has been raging for nearly a decade. Major parties to the war include the Houthis, who seized power in a revolution in 2014, and a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which launched a military intervention in 2015 with the goal of restoring the ousted Yemeni government to power. The United States backs the Saudi-led military coalition. 

The war has created what has been called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. More than twenty million people require humanitarian assistance. An estimated twelve million people are living in acute need, meaning that they need aid to sustain their livelihoods. More than four million people are internally displaced. 

An estimated 377,000 people have died in the war. Nearly 60 percent of these deaths are due to the humanitarian crisis, which is making it nearly impossible for the Yemeni people to access food, water, and health care. Most of these indirect deaths have been young children, who have been devastated by malnutrition. 

A study commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme estimates that, in 2021, a Yemeni child under the age of five died every nine minutes due to factors related to the war.

See also:
–Deafening Silence For Yemen, Loud Outcry For Ukraine
–The West Doesn’t Care About The People It Kills

People:

Angelina Jolie is speaking out in support of the people of Yemen amid the country’s ongoing civil war.

In a release obtained by PEOPLE, Jolie — who is currently spending three days in Yemen, where she has “met both internally displaced Yemenis as well as refugees in the north and south of the country,” according to the release — says, “The level of human suffering here is unimaginable.”

“For every day that Yemen’s brutal conflict continues, more and more innocent lives are lost and more people will continue to suffer,” she continues. “We live in a world where suffering and horror dominates headlines, but where such headlines can result in overwhelming displays of compassion and international solidarity.”

The actress, humanitarian and Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 46, says she hopes “this compassion and solidarity will be extended to the people of Yemen, who urgently need a swift and peaceful resolution to this conflict – and to other displaced people, whoever and wherever they are in the world.”

Al Jazeera:

Monday’s resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and adopted with 11 votes in favour and four abstentions, extends an embargo that until now targeted some Houthi leaders to the entire rebel group.

The Emirati mission to the UN welcomed the result of the vote, saying the resolution would “curtail the military capabilities of the Houthis & push toward stopping their escalation in Yemen & the region”.

The move comes days after United States President Joe Biden’s administration issued new sanctions against a network that it accused of transferring tens of millions of dollars to the Houthis – and amid a push by the Emirati government for countries to take a tougher stance against the rebels.

The Houthis have ramped up their attacks against Saudi Arabia and started directly targeting the UAE in recent weeks.

See also: U.S. Backs U.N. Resolution Declaring Yemen’s Houthis Terrorists

Middle East Monitor:

The US has announced on Friday that a Houthi militia has detained a Yemeni worker at its embassy in Sanaa, Jordanian newspaper Assabeel reported.

“We are heartened to see that the story of the illegal and baseless detention of our Yemeni staff is once again receiving media attention,” a statement issued by the US Embassy in Yemen conveyed.

It added: “We are saddened to confirm that the Houthis have detained another member of our staff.”

The statement continued: “The outpouring of support for our colleagues is a testament to many strong relationships they have developed in the course of their work for the embassy for many years to advance the US-Yemen partnership.”

Calling on the media’s help, the statement requested: “We hope you will help us keep our detainees in the public eye.”

See also:
-U.N. Security Council To Vote On Houthi Arms Embargo
–UN: Fighting In Yemen Displaced Over 23,000 People So Far This Year

Reason:

On the campaign trail, then-candidate Joe Biden promised to “end our support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.” A year into his presidency, however, little has changed. The U.S. continues to arm the Saudi-led coalition, and Yemen is teetering on the brink of collapse. Under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Biden, American military support has enabled the destruction of an entire country.

See also: Yemen: Civil Society Groups Urge US Congress To Oppose Houthi Terror Listing

UN News:

“It should be obvious to everyone just how high the stakes have become”, said Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, recalling attacks in January by Ansar Allah – also known as the Houthis – on the UAE.

For Yemenis, the past month was marked by a multiplication of frontlines and an “appalling” record number of civilian casualties, Mr. Grundberg said.  A coalition airstrike on a detention facility in Sadaa, which killed or injured more than 300 detainees, was among the worst incidents in three years.

He described the sharp increase in airstrikes, including on residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Sana’a and the crucial port city of Hudaydah, stressing that the war is also being fought in the economic arena, as the two sides and their allies battle over resources, trade flows through the Red Sea port, and monetary policy. 

See also: Biden Doubles Down On A Failed Yemen Policy

South China Morning Post:

United States F-22 fighter jets arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, part of an American defence response to recent missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting the country.

The Raptors landed at Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, which hosts some 2,000 US troops. American soldiers there launched Patriot interceptor missiles in response to the Houthi attacks last month, the first time US troops have fired the system in combat since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

American officials declined to say how many F-22s deployed or the number of airmen supporting the aircraft, citing operational security. However, they identified the unit involved as the 1st Fighter Wing, located at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. A photo later released by the Air Force showed six F-22s in a line on a taxiway at Al-Dhafra.

See also: Yemen Rebels: US Behind ‘Escalation’ Prompting Strikes Against ​Saudi, UAE

The Washington Post:

Expanded missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have fueled support among some U.S. and Middle Eastern officials for placing them back on a U.S. terrorist blacklist, a year after the Biden administration ended that designation on humanitarian grounds.

The possible naming of the Iranian-backed rebels as a proscribed “foreign terrorist” organization, which would criminalize dealings with the group, is being raised following attacks on Yemen’s Gulf neighbors, including on a base housing U.S. troops in the United Arab Emirates.

But such a step, if approved, would constitute a highly unusual reversal of an earlier decision to end a Trump-era terrorist designation that Biden administration officials said would worsen already-dire conditions for Yemeni civilians. Humanitarian groups are warning that a renewed designation could have the same punishing effect as it would hamper getting aid into the country.

See also: Lawmakers Take Action On Biden’s Failed Yemen Policy

Democracy Now!:

President Joe Biden had promised to end support for offensive operations by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and stop all “relevant” arms sales, but the U.S. continues to service Saudi warplanes, and the administration recently approved the sale of $650 million in air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia. Congressmember Ro Khanna, one of the most outspoken congressional critics of the war, says the U.S. has the power to stop the fighting. “We could ground the Saudi Air Force to a halt tomorrow if we stopped supplying them with tires and parts,” says Khanna. “Instead, we continue to authorize arms sales to the Saudis.”

See also: The Hawks, Lobbyists And Dictator Who Are Pushing Joe Biden To Spark A Historic Famine In Yemen

Jacobin:

This month marks the one-year anniversary of Joe Biden’s promise to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.” The announcement, among other things, represented a major public relations victory for the administration just weeks into its first term. Hailed, perhaps for good reason, as a “dramatic” shift in America’s foreign policy and a clear break with the course pursued by Donald Trump, it’s today unclear how much, if anything, has qualitatively changed.

Middle East Eye:

Two prominent House Democrats have introduced legislation that would prohibit US companies from providing maintenance services to the Saudi air force, the latest attempt by lawmakers to reduce Washington’s involvement in the devastating seven-year war in Yemen.

The bill, introduced by Congressmen Tom Malinowski and Jim McGovern – who serves as the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission – would for two years prohibit the State Department from granting licences to US companies maintaining aircraft “belonging to military units that carried out offensive air strikes inside Yemen over the last year”.

If passed, the measure would only permit maintenance work for US-made aircraft, including Saudi Arabia’s fleet of F-15 fighter jets, on the condition they are used exclusively “in a defensive capacity” to target the Houthis’ missile and drone capabilities.

See also: US State Dept Backs Latest Raft Of Saudi, UAE, Jordan Arms Sales

CBS News:

The United States will send a warship and fighter jets to help defend the United Arab Emirates, officials said on Wednesday, after a series of missile attacks by Yemeni rebels left three dead in the wealthy Gulf state. The deployment, to “assist the UAE against the current threat,” follows a phone call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the U.S. Embassy in the UAE said.

The UAE, a major financial hub that is part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, suffered its third missile attack in as many consecutive weeks on Monday.

See also: Iran’s Quds Force Training Proxy Naval Forces, Opposition Group Says