New US envoy meets Yemen president in Saudi 

The United States’ new special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, met Yemen’s internationally-recognised president and his foreign minister in Riyadh yesterday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the Biden administration aimed at ending the war, Reuters reported.

“Our primary objective is to bring the parties together in coordination with U.N. Special Envoy Griffiths for a negotiated settlement that will end the war and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” the US embassy to Yemen reported of Lenderking’s comments to Yemen’s foreign minister.

US President Joe Biden last week named veteran diplomat Lenderking as America’s special envoy to Yemen. Washington also announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

Impoverished Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

The war has killed more than 100,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations (UN) official data.

READ: Saudi Arabia vows to continue its operations in Yemen