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.  

The administration of President Joe Biden has formally delisted Yemen’s Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”, undoing the last-minute move under former President Donald Trump that the United Nations and aid groups said threatened to further devastate the war-torn country.

Martin Griffiths’s trip is part of efforts to bring together more diplomatic, regional and international support for a negotiated political solution to Yemen’s war.

The United States said Friday it intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen's Houthi movement in response to the country's humanitarian crisis, reversing one of the most criticized last-minute decisions of the Trump administration.

The UN on Friday told journalists that it welcomed the decision by the United States “to strengthen it’s diplomatic engagement” and support efforts led by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, to ends years of conflict there. 

US President Joe Biden announced the end of US support for a Saudi-led coalition that is waging war in Yemen, in a major policy reversal from the previous administration that may alter the course of the conflict.

On 10 January, the former United States Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced the designation of the Houthis (Ansar Allah) as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist entity. The designation entered into effect on 19 January.

Civilians in Yemen’s Hudaydah Governorate, face a growing threat from escalating clashes, with shelling of residential areas ongoing, endangering thousands.