US envoy to promote Yemen peace despite Huthi attacks

The US point man on Yemen is heading to the region in hopes of preserving the delicate truce in the war-battered nation despite Houthi rebels' recent attacks targeting Israel, the State Department said Monday.

Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, will travel this week to the Gulf. The State Department did not specify his dates or destinations but said he would be in touch with officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, as well as UN representatives.

Houthi rebels, who have ties to Iran and control much of Yemen, have targeted Israeli-linked vessels in avowed solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war triggered by Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the "provocative and dangerous attacks" by the rebels have "threatened almost two years of progress to end the war in Yemen."

Lenderking "will emphasize the need to contain the Israel-Hamas conflict while pursuing the United States' priority of Yemeni-Yemeni political dialogue to end the war and set Yemen on a firm course for peace and stability," the State Department said in a separate statement.

"A wider conflict in the Middle East does not serve US interests nor those of our regional partners, who support a lasting peace in Yemen," it said.

Yemen has suffered nearly a decade of war that turned the country into the scene of one of the world's largest humanitarian catastrophes, but a de facto truce has held since April 2022.

Upon taking office, US President Joe Biden put a priority on ending the war by reducing support for a devastating Saudi military campaign in Yemen, removing the Houthis from a list of designated terrorist groups and appointing Lenderking, who has met with Houthi representatives.

Since the Gaza war, the Houthi rebels have seized an Israeli-linked cargo vessel and fired ballistic missiles at various targets. On Sunday, US Central Command said US warships shot down three suspected Houthi drones in the Red Sea.

The Biden administration has said it will consider redesignating the Houthis a terrorist group but has largely been measured in its public statements.