A photo taken on March 18, 2018 shows a Yemeni child looking out at buildings damaged during an air strike in the southern Yemeni city of Taez.
AHMAD AL-BASHA | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday proposed a new peace initiative that would usher in the end of the war in Yemen.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Monday that the plan would include a nationwide ceasefire, which would reopen Sanaa airport and allow fuel and food imports through Hodeidah port.
The civil war in Yemen escalated in 2014 when Houthi forces, which is in alliance with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took over the country’s capital.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been attacking the Houthis in Yemen. Former President Donald Trump’s government has backed Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
Trump vetoed an end to US military aid and involvement in Yemen in 2019. Trump said at the time that the congressional resolution was “unnecessary” and that it endangered the lives of American citizens and brave servants, today and in the future.
Lawmakers who supported the measure have criticized Saudi Arabia for a series of bombings that have killed thousands of civilians in Yemen.
Last month, President Joe Biden announced the cessation of US support for offensive operations in Yemen and appointed a new envoy to oversee the country’s diplomatic mission to end the civil war there.
“This war must end,” Biden said during his first speech on foreign policy as president. “We end all US support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including arms sales.”
“At the same time, Saudi Arabia is facing missile and UAV attacks and other threats by Iranian troops in several countries,” Biden said. “We will continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity and its people.”
The president tapped Tim Lenderking, deputy secretary of state for Iran, Iraq and multilateral regional affairs, to oversee the U.S. 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’s subsidiary in the region, known as AQAP.
Biden has also halted sales of precision-guided ammunition to Saudi Arabia to assess possible human rights violations.
The United Nations has earlier said that the ongoing armed conflict in Yemen has led to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. In fiscal 2020, the US provided more than $ 630 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen, according to figures provided by the State Department.