Yemen's foreign minister said his government will work with President Joe Biden's administration to end the war in the Arab world's poorest country.
Still, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak insisted the Houthi rebels and their Iranian backers remain the main obstacle to peace — an apparent defense of Saudi military involvement in Yemen.
On Thursday, Biden announced the U.S. was ending support for the grinding Saudi-led war in Yemen. The five-year conflict has killed some 130,000 people, including over 13,000 civilians, and resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“We will deal positively with the attitude of the new U.S. administration, which wants to end the conflict in Yemen,” Bin Mubarak told The Associated Press late Thursday.
“This has always been our goal since the war started, and we dealt positively with all U.N. initiatives in the past, but we are always faced with the intransigence of Houthi militias and Iran’s agenda in the region," he said.
Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam tweeted late Thursday that peace would not be achieved until “the aggression was brought to a halt and the siege was lifted.”
Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and began a march south to seize the entire country. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen’s internationally recognized government in March 2015.
Biden announced an end to “relevant” U.S. arms sales but gave no immediate details on what that would mean. The administration already has said it was pausing some of the billions of dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s main partner in its Yemeni offensive. The U.S. has sold bombs and fighter jets to Saudi Arabia that the kingdom later used in strikes on Yemen killing civilians.
Biden also called for a cease-fire, an opening of humanitarian channels to allow more delivery of aid, and a return to long-stalled peace talks.
Saudi Arabia has been conciliatory in its response to rebuffs from Biden, who as a candidate blasted the kingdom’s current rulers for rights abuses and as president has made clear he intends to distance his administration from Saudi leaders.
However, the Biden administration also says it will help Saudi Arabia boost its defenses against outside attacks, as part of maintaining key security, counterterrorism and military ties. Saudi state media focused on that part of Biden’s announcements Thursday.
The Yemeni government also welcomed Biden's decision to appoint Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen, hailing it as another “important step” attesting to the U.S. commitment to end the war, according to a statement from Yemen’s state-run SABA news agency.
JERUSALEM (AP) — A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack comes after the U.S. military said early Thursday an allied warship shot down a Houthi missile targeting a vessel the day before near the same area. The Houthis claimed that Wednesday assault, which comes after a period of relatively few rebel attacks on shipping in the region over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Thursday's attack, a ship was targeted just over 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Aden, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
The captain “reports a loud bang heard and a splash and smoke seen coming from the sea,” the UKMTO said. “Vessel and all crew are safe.”
The attack was also reported by the private security firm Ambrey.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack late Thursday, identifying the ship the rebels tried to target as the MSC Darwin.
European Union forces separately shot down a drone launched from Houthi territory on Thursday, Gen. Robert Brieger said. Separately on Wednesday, the British warship HMS Diamond began the first in the Royal Navy to shoot down a missile since 1991 when it destroyed a Houthi missile targeting merchant ships.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and firing off drones and missiles steadily in the last months.
However, Wednesday's attack was the first one by rebels in some time. An explosion struck some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden, the UKMTO said.
Early Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said the explosion came from a coalition warship shooting down the missile likely targeting the MV Yorktown, a U.S.-flagged, owned and operated vessel with 18 U.S. and four Greek crew members.
“There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition or commercial ships,” Central Command said.
Saree claimed that attack but insisted without evidence that the missile hit the Yorktown. Saree also claimed the Houthis targeted another ship in the Indian Ocean, without providing proof. The Houthis have made repeated claims that turned out to not be true during their yearslong war in Yemen.
The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
Most of the ships targeted by the Houthis have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war. The rebels have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond to shoot down a missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a large barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea Wednesday. (LPhot Chris Sellars/MoD Crown copyright via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), members of the HMS Diamond's Bridge team shoot down a missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a large barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea Wednesday. (LPhot Chris Sellars/MoD Crown via AP)
