By Neelam Rahim

Radio Islam International discusses the update on the situation in Yemen with Veena Ali Khan, a Yemen research assistant at the International crisis group.

According to Veena, a truce was agreed upon on the second of April, which reached renewal in June. Now the expiry date is the second of August.

Not undermining the efforts to be able to make a truce, Veena says it’s great. “We’ve seen the lowest civilian casualties and the start of the conflict, but we can’t ignore how shaky this truce is, especially as we’re approaching the end of the second extension.”

She says the truce was agreed to confidence building. Three confidence-building measures were approved by the Houthis, who hold the stronghold in Sanaa, the capital and the government, based in the temporary southern capital of Aden. And among the three confidence-building measures, one of them was to allow fewer ships into Hodeidah, the Houthi-held port. The second was open international flights. Commercial flights from Sanaa airport, which is based in Houthi-held areas. Two flights from Sanaa to Cairo and also to Amann. So this is extremely important because the airport has been shut since 2016, and the third confidence measure was the only confidence-building measure that would benefit the government, and that was to reopen roads in the besieged city of Taiz, which lies in the centre of Yemen.

 What’s been the role of U. S. President Joe Biden in the Yemen issue and his recent trip to the Middle East?

According to Veena, what’s persistent when we look at the US Position on Yemen, in general, is that there’s a perception that the US always views Yemen through the lens of the Saudi and Iran relationship.

She says not to dismiss the efforts of the U. S. Envoy, who has played a massive role in pushing the trees forward at meeting with the government parties, and I see US presence in terms of growing the trees ahead. But when it comes to Biden’s rule, I think what is pertinent, especially from the meeting he met with Mohammed bin Salman was he discussed Yemen with everyone aside from Yemenis. That meeting just carried on the perception that there was a lack of effort from Biden’s side; actually, he could have also talked to the Presidential who went to Saudi Arabia during that period.

But in terms of Yemen, I think the Saudis were potentially trying to ensure they could get some security guarantors from the US, As the Saudis have experienced Houthi missiles on its border. It’s been quite disappointed with a lack of support and response from the US, and I think the US Is quite nervous to over promise itself in terms of the security it can provide for Saudi. I don’t think anything significant was decided on Yemen. Aside from we need to carry on the truce that the Saudis have been pushing along anyway.