U.S. President Biden delivered his first foreign policy speech since taking office. Biden promised not to support Saudi military operations in Yemen.
Biden called the military conflict in Yemen “a disaster at the humanitarian and strategic level” and promised the United States to end providing intelligence, data and arms sales support for Saudi offensive operations in Yemen, according to the New York Times.
Biden also said he would work to resume stalled peace talks and announced the appointment of an envoy to ease the long-standing conflict in Yemen.
In addition, Biden pointed out that the United States will continue to support Saudi Arabia in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity against the Iranian threat.
According to Al Jazeera, Saudi Arabia welcomed this and said it supported a political solution to the Yemeni crisis.
According to the Wall Street Journal earlier, on January 27, the Biden administration has temporarily frozen arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and is reviewing these transactions, according to sources.
In September 2014, Yemeni Houthis captured the capital Sana’a and then occupied southern Yemen. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and other countries launched a military operation code-named “Decisive Storm” against the Houthis.
In December 2018, under the mediation of the United Nations, the Yemeni government and Houthis agreed on important issues such as the Khederda ceasefire and prisoner of war exchange, but soon the two sides accused each other of breaking the ceasefire agreement.
Years of conflict have continuously deteriorating the economic situation in Yemen, triggering a serious humanitarian crisis.
