President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an end to US support for a massive five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
The move would fulfill a campaign promise by Biden, whose government plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen. Biden sees the United States “playing a more active and engaged role” in ending the war through talks, Sullivan said at a White House briefing.
Biden also announced the selection of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen as soon as Thursday afternoon, when the president will speak at the State Department. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection and spoke on condition of anonymity prior to the announcement. The Gulf-based newspaper The National was the first to report the choice.
Lenderking was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the agency’s Middle East division. As a foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia started the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had taken territory in Yemen and launched cross-border missiles on Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led air campaign has since killed countless Yemeni civilians, despite US assistance with command and control of the Saudi military that US officials say was intended to minimize civilian casualties in the bombing. The Obama administration initially gave the green light to the Saudi Arabia-led offensive. Some of the involved US officials have since said they regret that decision, and are now in the Biden administration trying to stop US involvement and end the multi-party dispute.
Survivors show fragments showing that the bombs are American-made. The conflict has also exacerbated hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf states and the Houthis have committed serious rights violations.