Yemen

President Joe Biden announced an end to the United States support for Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen on Tuesday.

"This war has to end. We are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen including relevant arms sales," so Biden. "At the same time, Saudi Arabia faces missile attacks and UAV strikes and other threats from Iranian supplied forces in multiple countries. We are going to continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity and its people."

Just days before the now-former President Donald Trump was set to leave office, his administration announced plans to label the Houthis a “foreign terrorist organization” – effectively barring US citizens and entities from interacting financially with the group.

The designation came into effect on Tuesday, just as the US Treasury Department released details of limited licensing exemptions to the restrictions. For months, international aid groups providing much-needed aid to civilians hard hit by a devastating conflict in Yemen have warned that their work could be disrupted by the US designation of the Houthis – and urged the Trump administration not to do it. But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on January 10 said the measure aimed “to hold Ansarallah accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping”.

Human rights and humanitarian groups, as well as US lawmakers, are also urging the recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden to rescind the designation. The United Nations’ humanitarian chief last week called for the US to reverse the decision, saying it could lead to “large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years”.

Biden’s incoming national security adviser also recently criticized the move.

A heavy explosion occurred at the airport in the Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday. According to witnesses, the incident occurred shortly after the landing of a plane coming from Saudi Arabia carrying Yemen's new government.

However, the head of the government and its members are fine, according to Information Minister Muammar Al-Erjani. "We assure our people that all cabinet members are safe," he wrote via Twitter. He said it was a "cowardly terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Huthi militia."

In the case of the Arab coalition’s bombing of the Dahyan student bus in Yemen, a Houthi court has sentenced ten people to death.

These people include the king of Saudi-Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the crown prince of Saudi-Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and United States President Donald Trump.

In addition the death sentence they've also been funded $10 billion.

A new study by the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) claims Germany, since 1990, has authorized and exported weapons and military equipment to be used in countries with human rights violations and ravaged by war.

According to the EU criteria, the recipient of arms must respect human rights and international law, as well as maintain peace and stability in their region. However, Germany has repeatedly struck deals with nations with a poor human rights record, such as Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, and Indonesia, oftentimes selling off old Bundeswehr hardware, PRIF notes.

The study states there have been "wars fought with German weapons and serious human rights violations.".

United Nations have met and discussed possible actions to prevent a breach of the FSO Safer tanker that is anchored off Yemen's coast near the port of Hodeida. The 45-year-old tanker has been abandoned, is under the control of the Iran-backed Huthis and carries 1.1 million barrels of crude oil. The UN Security Council fears that in case the tanker explodes or leaks, the oil would destroy the environment and livelihood of tens of thousands of people that depend on fishing in the area.

The UN Security Council has reportedly proposed a plan to conduct repairs on the ship to which the Huthis had previously agreed in 2019, only for the mission to get cancelled in the last minute. In May a leak in the engine room has been repaired alorad but according to the British UN mission "a permanent solution is urgently needed".

United Nations secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Sir Mark Lowcock has stated that he has "worked on Yemen for many years now, seeing many bad moments. This is the darkest moment I have ever seen" as the country battles the Covid-19 pandemic and starvation. People are forced to stay at home and can not afford food anymore. He states that the Yemen operation is in funding danger as donor nations are cutting the money amidst the Covid-19 recession that has hit their own economies. Sir Mark Lowcock stated that "We raised lots of money for it last year. More than $3 billion, and that enabled us to feed 13 million people a month. Now the money has fallen away".

The cabinet of Saudi Arabia has condemned Yemen's Houthis for attacking Riyadh. In a statement, Saudi Arabia called the attacks "terroristic" and stated that it was carried out by eight armed drones and three ballistic missiles. According to Aljazeera, two large explosions have been heard in Riyadh. There are no reports of injuries or damages, but the Houthi movement claims that they've hit the defence ministry and a military base while Saudi Arabia claims that they have shot a missile down.