2023-09-20 06:01:15
Representatives of the Houthi rebels returned to Sanaa on Tuesday following “positive” talks in Saudi Arabia, but without concrete progress with the wealthy Gulf monarchy involved in the war in Yemen, scene of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Representatives of the Houthi rebels, an Iranian-backed movement, visited Riyadh on Thursday for their first publicly announced visit since 2015, when Saudi Arabia took the lead in an anti-Houthi military coalition in support to the Yemeni government.
Houthi leaders “returned, accompanied by the Omani mediator, to the capital Sanaa, following five days of negotiations in Riyadh,” announced Al-Masirah, the rebel television channel. “There will be a new round of negotiations,” declared on X (ex-Twitter) Ali Al-Qhoom, member of the political council of the Houthis, without reporting any concrete progress in Riyadh. According to him, the talks were however “serious and positive” and marked by “optimism” regarding the possibility of “overcoming the blockages” between the Houthis and the Saudis.
In a statement published early Wednesday on The Saudi side of the talks in Riyadh was led by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, the same statement said.
The Houthis also met with the Saudi Minister of Defense, brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the same source. “It was emphasized that the kingdom continues to support Yemen and its brotherly people,” and that Saudi Arabia had encouraged “the Yemeni side to sit at the negotiating table,” the statement said.
Hundreds of thousands of deaths
The rebels’ visit to Riyadh was not the first meeting between the two sides. Saudi officials visited Sanaa five months ago. Discussions are also held regularly via the Sultanate of Oman. The rebels’ visit to Riyadh comes amid a warming of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two major regional powers that have been rivals for years.
On Sunday, the Houthis said they hoped for progress in Riyadh. The negotiations, welcomed by the United States, concern concrete issues, such as the payment of salaries of civil servants who have been under rebel administration, the release of prisoners and the withdrawal of coalition forces. The rebels took control of Sanaa in 2014 and have since seized entire swathes of the territory, mainly in the north of Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
The war has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, according to the UN, which is particularly concerned regarding the risk of large-scale famine, with international aid continuing to decline. While its intervention did not allow the Houthis to be driven out, Saudi Arabia is seeking to escape from this costly conflict for its finances and its international image. All the belligerents have been accused by UN experts of having perpetrated war crimes.
Representatives of the Houthi rebels returned to Sanaa on Tuesday following “positive” talks in Saudi Arabia, but without concrete progress with the rich Gulf monarchy involved in the war in Yemen, scene of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Representatives of the Houthi rebels, a movement supported by Iran, visited…
1695191297
#Rebels #leave #Riyadh #positive #talks
