President Joe Biden will announce the end Thursday of U.S. support for a five-year Saudi-led military offensive ground in Yemen that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The move would fulfill a campaign commitment by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the general conflict in Yemen. Biden sees the United States as “playing a more active and committed role” in ending the war through talks, Sullivan said at a White House briefing.
Biden also announces the election of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen as early as Thursday afternoon, when the president is due to speak at the State Department. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the selection and spoke on condition of anonymity prior to the announcement. The Gulf-based newspaper The National first reported on the choice.
Lenderking has been an assistant deputy secretary of state in the Middle East section of the agency. A member of the foreign service career, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries and elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles into Saudi Arabia.
Since then, a Saudi-led air campaign has killed numerous Yemeni civilians, despite U.S. assistance with the command and control of the Saudi army, according to U.S. officials, to minimize civilian casualties in the U.S. campaign. bombing. Initially, the Obama administration gave the green light to the Saudi-led offensive. Some of the U.S. officials involved have said they regret the decision and are now in the Biden administration, as it is about stopping U.S. involvement and ending the multiparty conflict.
Survivors show fragments showing American-made bombs. The conflict has also intensified hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international law experts say both Gulf countries and Houthis have committed serious rights abuses.