clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Biden backs Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in drive to end Yemen war

April 3, 2023 at 11:54 am

U.S. President Joe Biden gives a speech in Monterey Park, California, United States on March 14, 2023. [Tayfun Coskun – Anadolu Agency]

The US has affirmed its continued support for all efforts aimed at a comprehensive solution to the Yemeni war, as well as support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Iranian-backed attacks.

In a statement published by the White House on the occasion of the first anniversary of the truce in Yemen, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that it had “saved countless Yemeni lives, enabled increased humanitarian assistance to flow throughout the country, allowed Yemenis to travel throughout the Middle East, and set the conditions for a comprehensive peace.”

Biden also mentioned that the fact that “cross-border attacks [against Saudi Arabia] from Yemen have ceased in the last year, as well as air strikes inside Yemen, is yet another positive outcome of the truce.”

The president stressed that the US “remains fully committed to our partners in the region, and looks forward to continuing to work with them to end the war in Yemen.”

It has been a year since the six-month UN truce was announced between the parties to the war in Yemen. It came into force on 2 April. Since then, Yemen has witnessed the longest period of relative peace since the outbreak of the war in the country, which is entering its ninth year.

Yemen is living in a state of no war, yet not complete peace, after half a year of a continuous truce without agreement, the original deal having expired in early October. The Houthis refused to extend it and have since set a number of conditions to agree to the extension, and have also launched attacks on the cities of Marib and Taiz.

Yemen is suffering from the war that began after the Iran-backed Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces, at the end of 2014. The conflict has intensified since March 2015, after an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened to support the legitimate government.

READ: Democrats urge Biden to investigate Israel’s use of American weapons on Palestinians