A photo taken on March 18, 2018 shows a Yemeni child looking at buildings that were damaged in an air attack in the city of Taez in southern Yemen.
AHMAD AL-BASHA | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday proposed a new peace initiative that will bring an end to the war in Yemen.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Monday that the plan would include a nationwide ceasefire, the reopening of Sanaa airport and allow the import of fuel and food through the port of Hodeidah.
The Yemeni civil war escalated in 2014, when Houthi forces, which are in alliance with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took over the nation’s capital.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have carried out attacks in Yemen against the Houthis. The administration of former President Donald Trump has supported the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
Trump vetoed a measure in 2019 aimed at ending US military assistance and involvement in Yemen. At the time, Trump said the congressional resolution was “useless” and endangered “the lives of American citizens and courageous members of the service, both today and in the future.”
Supporting lawmakers have criticized Saudi Arabia for a series of bombing campaigns that have killed thousands of civilians in Yemen.
Last month, President Joe Biden announced a halt to US support for offensive operations in Yemen and appointed a new envoy to oversee the nation’s diplomatic mission to end the civil war there.
“This war must end,” Biden said during his first foreign policy speech as president. “We end all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.”
“At the same time, Saudi Arabia is facing rocket attacks and UAV strikes and other threats from Iranian-supplied forces in several countries,” Biden said. “We will continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and its people.”
The president called on Tim Lenderking, deputy secretary of state for Iran, Iraq and multilateral regional affairs, to oversee the US diplomatic mission to end the war in Yemen.
Biden’s policy of ending support for offensive operations will not extend to US military action against al-Qaeda affiliate in the region, known as AQAP.
Biden also stopped sales of precision-guided ammunition to Saudi Arabia to assess potential human rights violations.
The United Nations has previously said that the ongoing armed conflict in Yemen has produced the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. The United States provided more than $ 630 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen in fiscal year 2020, according to figures provided by the state department.