For negotiations with rebels, Saudi officials travel to Yemen’s capital
As part of international attempts to find a resolution to Yemen’s nine-year disputes, Saudi officials were in Yemen’s capital on Sunday for talks involving the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
According to the “Houthi-run SABA news agency,” a delegation from Saudi Arabia, led by the nation’s envoy to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber, would meet with Mahdi al-Mashat, the leader of the “Houthi’s supreme political council,” which governs the rebel-held regions of Yemen.
A group from Oman, which reached Sanaa on Saturday, will also participate in the negotiations, the outlet stated, citing an unnamed source.
The negotiations in Sanaa are part of global initiatives to end Yemen’s conflict, which started in 2014. At that point, the internationally recognised government was overthrown and fled to the south before going into exile in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis subsequently took control of Sanaa and a large portion of the country’s north.
Months after the Houthi action, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in an effort to reinstate the country’s internationally recognised government. In recent years, the dispute has developed into a regional proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The Red Sea ports in Hodeida that are under Houthi control as well as the airport in Sanaa would no longer be subject to limitations imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, according to the officials. According to the Houthis, Taiz, the third-largest city in Yemen and a city held by the government forces, would no longer be under a years-long embargo.
The staged strategy also calls for funding all state personnel, including the armed forces, from oil and gas profits. After a months-long halt due to Houthi strikes on oil installations, the rebels agreed to enable oil exports from areas controlled by the government in exchange, the officials claimed.
The Oman-mediated negotiations tried to stop both sides from resuming open combat. After Saudi Arabia and Iran came to an agreement to mend their seven-year diplomatic split, the initiatives gained steam in recent weeks. Iran, the primary foreign supporter of the Houthis, has claimed that an agreement it made with Saudi Arabia would help put an end to the crisis in Yemen.
The Iranian-Saudi Arabian reconciliation has aided Saudi Arabia and Houthi negotiations, according to Ahmed Nagi, a Yemen researcher at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, and both parties are nearing an announcement about the cease-fire’s renewal.
When debated by Yemeni parties, he said, the second track of the Houthi-Saudi negotiations—a potential path to end the conflict permanently—would pose a significant obstacle.
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