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

Brookings:

The Houthis have won the war in Yemen, defeating their opponents in the civil war, the Saudis who intervened in 2015 against them, and the United States which backed the Saudis. It is a remarkable accomplishment for a militia group with no air force or navy. It is also strikingly like Hezbollah’s success story in Lebanon.

The Hill:

The United Arab Emirates said on Monday that it shot down a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis, which occurred as Israeli President Isaac Herzog was visiting the country.

The UAE’s defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed the projectile, pieces of which fell in unpopulated areas, according to Reuters. Authorities did not, however, say specifically where the missile was heading. 

The Houthis said they executed “a large-scale military operation deep inside the U.A.E.,” according to The Wall Street Journal, adding that they would reveal additional details at a later time.

See also: UN: 2,000 Children Recruited By Yemen’s Rebels Died Fighting

Voice Of America News:

The United Nations Friday called for the investigation by the Saudi-led coalition into its recent airstrikes on a Houthi-run detention facility in Yemen to be independent and transparent.

Three airstrikes in quick succession hit a Houthi-run detention facility in the northern Yemen city of Sa’ada January 21, one of the deadliest single attacks in Yemen’s nearly-seven-year civil war.

Initial findings by aid agencies indicate 91 detainees were killed and 236 injured. United Nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville says colleagues who were in Sa’ada this week as part of an interagency mission are working to verify the number of civilian casualties.

Amnesty International:

The Saudi-led coalition used a precision-guided munition made in the United States in last week’s air strike on a detention centre in Sa’adah, north-western Yemen, which, according to Doctors without Borders, killed at least 80 people and injured over 200, Amnesty International said today. The laser-guided bomb used in the attack, manufactured by US defence company Raytheon, is the latest piece in a wider web of evidence of the use of US-manufactured weapons in incidents that could amount to war crimes.

See also:
–UAE’s Security Bubble Is Punctured By Its Role In Yemen War
–Yemen: Bishop Hinder Denounces Indifference To Catastrophic Scenario

Al Jazeera:

Houthi rebels have launched attacks on the United Arab Emirates for the second time in a week.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates is 1,200km (746 miles) from the battlefields of Yemen’s civil war.

Despite being separated by the vast territory of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi is now being targeted by the Houthis.

The New York Times:

The U.S. military intervened on Monday to help the United Arab Emirates thwart a missile attack by rebels in Yemen on an air base where about 2,000 American personnel are stationed, U.S. and Emirati officials said.

The attack marked a sharp escalation in tensions as it was the second in a week aimed at the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen for years. Though the Houthis frequently target Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, strikes aimed at the Emirates had been rare until recently, as have American interventions like the one on Monday, and the country has been considered a safe haven in a tumultuous region.

See also:
–Yemen Has Become an Iranian Proxy War Against Israel
–The Conflict in Yemen is Escalating Sharply
–Yemen Conflict: Blowback Of Obama’s Botched Syria Policy – OpEd

Los Angeles Times:

The attack earlier this week, for which the Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility, sparked the latest escalation in Yemen’s grinding seven-year civil war. Within hours, warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that includes the Emirates pummeled Sana, the Houthi-controlled capital, killing about 20 people. And early Friday, further air retaliation from the coalition resulted in at least 82 reported civilian deaths and the internet being cut off for an entire city.

The tit-for-tat carnage underscores the complicated and often deadly calculus facing the U.S. in an ongoing conflict that appears to have only bad options.

See also: The War In Yemen Could Mar The Iranian Nuclear Talks

Middle East Eye:

Democratic lawmakers and policy analysts have said President Joe Biden needs to clarify what support the US is offering the Saudi-led coalition at war with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and avoid taking any steps that lead to Washington becoming further embroiled in the devastating seven-year conflict.

Congressman Ro Khanna, a staunch critic of the war, told Middle East Eye that the White House needed to immediately end all military support afforded to the Saudi-led coalition and instead “focus on diplomacy” to end the bloody conflict.

Our involvement in the war is stupid and unnecessary. Our political, diplomatic, military, and intelligence Establishment must therefore prolong our involvement at any cost.

See also:
–Biden Flip Flops On Yemen’s Houthis
–Why Is The UK Government Still Getting Away With Complicity In The Yemen War?
–Houthi’s Long-Range Drone Attack On Emirates Is Wake-Up Call For Israel
–Civilian Deaths And Injuries In Yemen In Startling Escalation As Global Leaders Turn Attention To Other Crises

Reuters:

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday his administration is considering re-designating Yemen’s Houthi movement as an international terrorist organization following drone and missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates claimed by the group.

His comment at a news conference came shortly after the Emirati Embassy said on Twitter that UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba urged the Biden administration to restore the designation in response to Monday’s strikes on Abu Dhabi airport and a fuel depot.

Asked if he supported returning the Iran-aligned Houthis to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, from which they were removed nearly a year ago, Biden replied, “The answer is, it’s under consideration.”

See also: Yemeni Civilians Bear Brunt Of Suffering In Escalating Conflict

The Guardian:

Houthi forces who control much of northern Yemen say about 20 people have died in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on the capital, Sana’a, a day after a Houthi drone attack killed three people in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s coalition partner.

Global leaders have rallied around the UAE since the drone attack, which killed three migrant workers and wounded six others. Emirati officials said they were weighing a response to what they labelled a “sinister criminal escalation”, as satellite images were published revealing damage to an oil plant in Abu Dhabi.

See also:
–Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Warn Of More Attacks On UAE
–Another Escalation In Yemen

Arab News:

The US reiterated on Thursday its concern over the Iran-backed Houthi militia’s continued obstruction of the peace process in Yemen and harassment American and UN-employed local Yemeni staff.

“If they are serious about peace and upholding international norms, they will release our colleagues immediately,” said Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development.

“The Houthis must immediately cease threats, release unharmed those detained, vacate the compound, return seized US property, and cease their threats against our employees and their families.” she said during a Security Council briefing on Yemen on Wednesday.

Thomson Reuters Foundation News:

Yemen’s Giants Brigade forces, who are backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said on Monday they had taken full control of oil-rich Shabwa province from the pro-Iran Houthi movement after 10 days of fighting.

The Washington Post:

Forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government have reclaimed large swaths of territory in a southern province from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, government officials said Wednesday.

The push in the southern province of Shabwa comes amid heavy airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis elsewhere in Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa. The rebels have also stepped up their cross-border attacks, using ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones to target Saudi Arabia.

Arab News:

The reported hijacking of a UAE cargo ship off the coast of Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthi militia drew widespread condemnation across the region on Monday.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition said the ship was seized shortly before midnight on Sunday near the port city of Hodeidah. Coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said the ship, the Rawabi, was on a naval mission from the Yemeni island of Socotra to the Saudi port of Jazan, carrying equipment that had been used for a Saudi field hospital on the island.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the hijacking, describing the attack as a criminal act that obstructs the freedom of maritime and commercial navigation, as guaranteed by international laws and treaties, and could disrupt humanitarian aid and other relief efforts to help the Yemeni people.

Middle East Eye:

The Saudi-led coalition on Saturday launched a “large-scale” attack on Yemen after a projectile killed two people in the kingdom, in the first such deaths in three years blamed on the Houthi movement.

The coalition retaliated with an air strike on Ajama, a town northwest of Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, killing three people and wounding six others, Yemeni medics said.

Following the attack on Ajama, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree warned Saudi Arabia of a “painful” response if the coalition does not stop its “aggression”.

The Arab American News:

The World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday it will reduce food rations for 8 million people in Yemen from January due to a lack of funding from donors, warning the cuts will push more people into starvation.

Families on reduced handouts will receive barely half of the WFP’s daily minimum ration. Other food assistance and child malnutrition program are at risk of further cuts if more funding does not come through, the WFP said in a statement.

U.N. agencies, including the WFP, earlier warned of program cuts, after only $2.68 billion of $3.85 billion requested from donors for this year had been received as of the end of October.

“WFP food stocks in Yemen are running dangerously low,” the WFP’s regional director, Corinne Fleischer, said in a statement.

“Every time we reduce the amount of food, we know that more people who are already hungry and food insecure will join the ranks of the millions who are starving. But desperate times call for desperate measures.”

See also: US Stresses Commitment To Confronting ‘Iranian Threat’ In Yemen