DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemeni Houthis say the U.S. plan to cease fire in its six-year war against a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia does not go far enough and pressure is increasing on Riyadh to lift an air blockade and before any truce the deal is agreed.
With the United Nations warning of the imminence of a large-scale famine, US Special Envoy in Yemen, Tim Lenderking, visited the region this month to pressure the warring sides to reach a national agreement to revive peace negotiations sponsored by the UN on the end of the conflict.
But to make it clear that the Houthis believe that the plan should go further, Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters: “We discussed all of these proposals and offered alternatives. We continue to talk. “
Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015, has been trying to get out of the war for more than a year, but wants more guarantees from the Houthi armed movement about the security of its borders and how to contain the influence of its rival, Iran, in Yemen.
Tehran denies having armed the Houthis.
The main obstacle is Houthi’s demand that the coalition lift the blockade – which has largely contributed to Yemen suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world – before any truce agreement is closed, said three sources involved in the negotiations.
The Saudi Arabian-led coalition controls Yemen’s airspace and waters, including the port of Hodeidah, controlled by Houthi, on the Red Sea, which controls more than 70% of Yemen’s imports. The Houthis occupy most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
“The issue is seen as an existential threat in Saudi Arabia. Free shipping and daily flights between northern Yemen and Iran would cause real anxiety in Riyadh, ”said a source familiar with the talks. “It’s a case study on how to end a war that you didn’t win.”
Lenderking did not provide details in public about what he called a “solid plan”. But Abdulsalam said he included allowing flights to Sanaa airport from some destinations with prior coalition clearance.
He said the Houthis had agreed to inspect the ships going to Hodeidah and to verify bank transfers and the origins of the goods, but that the coalition says the port’s revenues should go to the Saudi Yemeni government.
A US State Department spokesman said Lenderking had put forward a fair proposal for a national ceasefire, with elements that would immediately resolve Yemen’s dire humanitarian situation.
“The Houthis must demonstrate their willingness to adopt and adhere to a comprehensive ceasefire across the country and enter into negotiations,” said the spokesman.
DEVIL IN DETAILS
The challenge, sources and analysts said, is to find a middle ground.
“As I understand it, the Saudis are willing to make concessions,” said Peter Salisbury, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. “But there are a lot of diabolical details to work out, in terms of what a ceasefire looks like and a loosening of restrictions.”
The stakes are high as the Houthis intensify missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities, and make gains in an offensive to seize the gas-rich Marib region of Yemen, the government’s last stronghold. internationally recognized that the Houthis expelled power in Sanaa.
Biden said the United States will no longer support the coalition’s offensive operations and, at the same time, will continue to help Saudi Arabia defend itself.
“I think the military escalation in Marib and elsewhere shows that Iran wants to put pressure on the United States indirectly in the nuclear archive, I see no other reason for that,” said a Saudi official, who declined to be identified.
Abdulsalam rejected that.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this month that Tehran supports a truce in Yemen “by lifting the blockade”.
Biden plans to restore a 2015 international nuclear pact with Iran, which his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, but Washington and Tehran are unable to agree on who should act first.
The Biden government used a carrot and stick approach in Yemen, including lifting the terrorist designations on the Houthis imposed by the Trump administration and subsequently sanctioning two of the group’s military leaders.
Lenderking said Washington will work with the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian governments to find a way to deliver fuel to Yemenis and restore humanitarian aid funding to the north.
But time is running out. Fuel shortages disrupted water pumps, generators in hospitals and disrupted aid provision in a country where 80% of the population needs help.
UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday that no fuel imports have been allowed in Hodeidah since January.
On March 17, at least 13 fuel tankers were detained – some for more than six months – by coalition warships off Hodeidah, despite UN authorization, UN data showed.
Four ships canceled and left without docking at the port after waiting months.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Edition of Ghaida Ghantous and Timothy Heritage