2023-06-18 04:08:02
On Saturday, the United States praised Saudi Arabia for facilitating flights from Sanaa Airport, which is under Houthi control, to Jeddah, with the aim of enabling Yemenis to perform Hajj.
National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said the White House welcomes pilgrimages between Yemen and Saudi Arabia “to enable Yemenis to perform their religious duties.”
Hodge added in statement The United States remains engaged with all parties to advance the benefits of the truce and end the war in Yemen through a Yemeni-led political process.
On Saturday evening, the first direct commercial plane between Sana’a and Saudi Arabia took off, since the closure of the capital’s airport, which is under the control of the Houthi rebels, in 2016, carrying Yemeni pilgrims, in a new indication of calm in the country mired in war nine years ago.
Since August of 2016, the coalition that supports the Yemeni government in the face of the Iran-backed Houthis has imposed restrictions on airport movement and only aid and United Nations planes are allowed to land at the airport.
Hodge said, “We commend Saudi Arabia’s efforts in support of the armistice over recent months, including the conduct of historic Hajj trips that enable Yemenis to perform their religious duties, and other trips that will soon follow.”
The Houthis accuse Riyadh of imposing a “siege” on Yemen, especially by closing the airport, while the Saudis say they want to prevent arms smuggling to the rebels.
Since the early days of US President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States has prioritized de-escalation and ultimately ending the conflict in Yemen through diplomacy.
The United Nations-brokered truce, which began in March of 2022, brought nearly 15 months of relative calm to the Yemeni people, as this period is the quietest since the start of the war in 2014.
Senior US officials, headed by the US Special Envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, and the Middle East Coordinator for the National Security Council, Brett McGurk, and others, were present last week in the region with the aim of expanding the armistice in Yemen, in addition to working on other issues.
The conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis took control of several regions in Yemen, including the capital, Sana’a. The following year, Saudi Arabia intervened at the head of a military coalition, exacerbating the conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead and caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, according to the United Nations.
Saudi Arabia has intensified peace efforts in Yemen since it surprisingly announced, last March, an agreement to resume relations with Iran, its regional rival, under the auspices of China, following a seven-year break.
In April, a Saudi delegation visited Sana’a for talks with the Houthis, at a time when a major prisoner exchange was taking place, involving regarding 900 prisoners.
The Sana’a meetings ended without a new truce being reached, although the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Muhammad Al Jaber, told AFP that he believed that all parties to the war were “serious” regarding wanting peace.
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