The Saudi-owned newspaper ‘Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’ has reported that Saudi Arabia is distancing itself from peace agreements and efforts in Yemen.
“The newspaper published a report that alleges a conflict between what it calls ‘Houthi wings,’ claiming that this alleged conflict ‘increases the obstacles to peace in Yemen.”
The newspaper reported that “the dispute that dominated the situation in Yemen in April last year, with talk of an imminent agreement to bring peace to years of suffering, gave way to competition and conflict between the factions that make up Houthi group in the interface, revealing the many challenges facing this path, in the absence of a single decision-making center.”
“It is commonly understood that decision-making and leadership in North Yemen – which includes Sana’a – is centralized, and talk of the existence of ‘wings’ within the Houthi group is a notion that Saudi Arabia has repeatedly promoted. Most recently, this has been done through a media campaign targeting political council member Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, whom the newspaper accuses of rejecting peace efforts.”
The newspaper also reiterates Saudi Arabia’s role as a mediator and attributes its withdrawal from peace talks to a change in priorities among Houthi leaders. It claims that the government has rejected a recent Houthi escalation.
This story, which some have criticized as fabricated as a rationale for withdrawing from the truce comes at the same time as the arrival of the National Security Adviser to the US President Jake Sullivan in Riyadh to discuss the negotiation file, with Washington confirming its commitment to continuing the war and preventing any solutions that lead to a humanitarian breakthrough.
According to The Intercept, following the arrival of the Saudi delegation in Sana’a, US officials traveled to Riyadh, to confirm Washington’s continued support for the war and its refusal to pay employees’ salaries.
US envoy Tim Lenderking, who visited Riyadh yesterday, stated earlier that the issue of employees’ salaries cannot be solved except through a Yemeni-Yemeni political dialogue, effectively rejecting proposals to address the issue of unpaid salaries through humanitarian means.
