DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemeni Hutis say US plan to ceasefire in six-year war against Saudi-led military coalition does not go far enough and puts pressure on Riyadh to lift a sea and air blockade before any truce agreement is agreed.
With the United Nations warning of a large-scale famine approaching, US Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking toured the region this month to pressure warring sides to agree to a nationwide truce to revive UN-sponsored peace talks at the end of the conflict.
But making it clear that the Houthis believed the plan should go further, Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters: “We have discussed all these proposals and offered alternatives. We keep talking.”
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 over the security of its borders and curbing the influence of his rival, Iran, in Yemen.
Tehran denies arming the Houthis.
One of the main strengths is the Houthi demand that the coalition lift the blockade, which has greatly contributed to Yemen suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, before any truce agreement is reached, according to three sources involved. in conversations.
The Saudi-led coalition controls Yemen’s airspace and waters, even next to the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, which handles more than 70 percent of Yemen’s imports. The Houthis occupy most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
“The issue is seen as an existential threat to 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 you didn’t win.”
Lenderking has not provided details in public of what he called a “sound plan.” But Abdulsalam said it included allowing flights to Sanaa airport from some destinations with the prior permission of the coalition.
He said the Houthis agreed to inspect ships bound for Hodeidah and verify bank transfers and the origins of the goods, but that the coalition says port revenue should go to the government with Saudi aid. Yemen.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Lenderking has submitted a fair ceasefire proposal across the country, with elements that would immediately address Yemen’s dire humanitarian situation.
“Houthis must show their willingness to adopt and adhere to a ceasefire across the country and enter into negotiations,” the spokesman said.
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
According to sources and analysts, the challenge is to find a waypoint.
“From what I understand, the Saudis are willing to make concessions,” said Peter Salisbury, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. “But there are a lot of devils in the details that need to be worked on, in terms of how the ceasefire is and what a reduction in restrictions is.”
Bets are high as houthis intensify missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities, and gain gains in an offensive to take the gas-rich Marib region of Yemen, the last redoubt of the internationally recognized government that the Houthis expelled from power in Sanaa.
Biden has said the United States will stop supporting coalition offensive operations while continuing to help Saudi Arabia defend itself.
“I think the military escalation in Marib and elsewhere shows that Iran wants to pressure the US indirectly on the nuclear file, I see no other reason,” said a Saudi official, who declined to be named.
Abdulsalam rejected it.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this month that Tehran supports a truce in Yemen “with the lifting of the blockade.”
Biden aims to restore a 2015 international nuclear pact with Iran that his predecessor Donald Trump left in 2018, but Washington and Tehran cannot agree on who should pass first.
The Biden administration has used a carrot and lever approach against Yemen, including lifting terrorist designations to houthis imposed by the Trump administration and then sanctioning two of the group’s military leaders.
Lenderking has said Washington will work with the Yemeni and Saudi governments to find a way to deliver fuel to Yemenis and restore funding for humanitarian aid in the north.
But time is running out. Fuel shortages have destroyed water pumps, generators in hospitals and disrupted the supply of aid in a country where 80% of the population needs help.
UN special envoy Martin Griffiths said Tuesday that fuel imports into Hodeidah had not been allowed since January.
As of March 17, at least 13 fuel tankers were detained, some for more than six months, by coalition warships off Hodeidah despite having UN clearance, according to UN data .
Four ships canceled and left without docking at the port after waiting months.
Additional reports from Jonathan Landay in Washington; Edited by Ghaida Ghantous and Timothy Heritage