US to further support Saudi in Yemen

The Trump administration has pledged to offer further support to the Saudi campaign in Yemen, according to US defence officials.

A number of defence officials told Foreign Policy magazine that the Pentagon is discussing offering Riyadh greater support in its two-year-old campaign in Yemen for the purpose of curbing Iranian influence in the region and in its war on terrorism.

The Trump administration has been clear from the very beginning that it would not tolerate Iranian expansionism in the Middle East and it has hiked up levels of drone strikes and controversial naval operations in Yemen as a part of its counter-terrorism strategy.

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The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did however state that Trump has not made a final decision on whether this would be the case.

Yesterday marked two years since the Saudi-led coalition began strikes in Yemen, with no solution to the war in sight. On the whole, the conflict has evolved into becoming a military stalemate, with each party alternating in making temporary gains.

Yemen is on the brink of famine, with 80 per cent of the population now in some sort of need of aid. There are seven million people who are close to entering a state of famine and over 10,000 civilians have been killed as a direct result of the war.