Saudi Arabia has intensified efforts to secure a de-escalation with Yemen’s Ansarullah revolutionary group after failing to exert military pressure on Sanaa and amid the movement’s continued missile attacks, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, Riyadh has turned to regional and international mediators after previous offers, including through China and failed Turkish mediation, were rejected by Ansarullah as insufficient to meet Yemen’s humanitarian demands.
For the third time in a matter of days, Saudi Arabia has now sought dialogue through UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, who met in Muscat with Head of Yemeni National Mohammad Abdul Salam.
Abdul Salam reiterated demands for the lifting of Saudi restrictions on Yemeni airports and seaports, the removal of economic and humanitarian measures, and the payment of state employees’ salaries, stressing that the demands must be implemented unconditionally.
A well-informed political source told Al-Akhbar‘s Rashid Al-Haddad: “Saudi Arabia continues to present itself as a peace mediator in Yemen, not as the leader of the aggression and blockade, and is trying to entrench itself behind its proxies, viewing the conflict as an internal Yemeni one.”
The source said Riyadh is proposing that the UN revive negotiations on Yemen’s economic file, including talks between the Yemeni parties on resuming oil production and exports and allocating revenues to pay public-sector salaries.
The renewed Saudi push for negotiations comes after US President Donald Trump has rejected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s calls for Washington to launch strikes against Ansarullah.
The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that Trump hesitated for weeks regarding the Saudi appeals, but matters reached a climax last Thursday when bin Salman contacted the US president and again urged him to intervene.
According to the newspaper, Trump had met with his advisors the previous day and informed them that he did not support launching strikes, but after his conversation with the Saudi crown prince, he changed his position and ordered the Department of Defense to prepare.
Then, by midday on Sunday, the US president reversed course again and rule out US airstrikes “at least for the time being,” as reported by the NYT.
Source: Al-Akhbar newspaper (translated and edited y Al-Manar)