Yemen

Saudi Arabia has offered Yemen’s Houthi rebels a nationwide ceasefire in a series of proposals aimed at ending the brutal six-year war in the country, including the partial lifting of the blockade on Sana’a international airport and some seaports. Riyadh also said it would support a UN humanitarian corridor in the oil-rich city of Marib, which has been under months of bombardment by the Houthis.

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The Saudi-led blockade of Yemen must be lifted before a ceasefire agreement can be reached, a Houthi rebel spokesman has said amid UN calls for an immediate halt to fighting.

International efforts to end the war in Yemen are stuck in an outdated two-party paradigm, seeking to mediate between the Huthis and their foes. As it pushes for renewed talks, the UN should broaden the scope to include Yemeni women’s and other civil society groups.

The UN’s top official in Yemen has warned of a “dramatic” deterioration in the country’s ongoing conflict, telling the Security Council on Tuesday that fighting has expanded on several fronts amid the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 

Demonstrators disperse shortly after breaking into Maashiq Presidential Palace amid public anger over the dire economic situation.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that “some hopeful progress” has been made toward a ceasefire in Yemen, but more commitment was needed from the parties to the civil war. The comments were in a statement on a just-concluded visit to the region by Timothy Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, aimed at bolstering U.N.-led efforts to end the conflict and stem a growing humanitarian disaster.

[…] The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous areas and have been battling the coalition since it intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015, have recently pushed towards the gas-rich region of Marib, aiming to take the government’s last stronghold in the north of Yemen.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday claimed missile and drone strikes that targeted neighboring Saudi Arabia overnight and threatened more attacks, as fighting in the grinding civil war escalates.

An enormous famine could wipe out a new opportunity created by renewed US engagement to end the war in Yemen, top United Nations officials have told the Security Council. UN Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths also called for a stop to an offensive by the Houthi movement on the government-held city of Marib, warning on Thursday that “the quest for territorial gain by force threatens all of the prospects of the peace process”.

The United Arab Emirates is dismantling parts of a military base it runs in the East African nation of Eritrea after it pulled back from the grinding war in nearby Yemen, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.