WASHINGTON – United States (US) President Joe Biden announced that US will withdraw its support for offensive operations by its allies in Yemen as part of reset of American diplomacy during his administration.
“The war in Yemen must end,” President Joe Biden said in his first major foreign policy speech.
As a result of Thursday’s announcement, the US will stop supporting offensive operations, including the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Under Biden’s two predecessors, US backed a coalition led by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The conflict has left millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation.
Fighting began in 2014 between a weak Yemeni government and the Houthi rebel movement. It escalated a year later, when Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states – backed by the US, the United Kingdom and France – began air strikes against the Houthis.
Biden announced other changes to US foreign policy, such as significant increase in the number of refugees accepted by US, and reversal of the decision to withdraw American troops from Germany where they have been stationed since the end of World War Two.(BBC)
