In a surprise move, President Biden has withdrawn U.S. support for a Saudi-led military campaign against Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen, describing the country’s bitter civil war as a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe. The near decade long civil war, which is a prominent symbol of Riyadh and Teheran’s proxy conflict for control of the Middle East, has created what the United Nation’s describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Saudi Arabia’s grinding six-year-long offensive against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which until Biden’s foreign policy pivot was supported by the U.S., has failed to reinstall the former Yemeni government. The Houthis maintain control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the largest port city Hodeidah, allowing them to exert control over important Red Sea shipping routes. Riyadh’s military operations have only prolonged, intensified, and fragmented Yemen’s civil war further magnifying the suffering of the Yemeni people. The key motivation for Riyadh’s involvement in […]