The United States’ intercession to end Yemen’s long conflict has revived the peace process, but savage fighting in the country’s north has thrown up yet another serious challenge, observers say.
The US has taken back its support for the Saudi-led coalition’s offensive in Yemen and its new envoy Tim Lenderking met the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in person, who waged the conflict when they seized the capital Sanaa.
The Huthis are throwing everything they have at the fight for the capital of an oil-rich region, sustaining heavy casualties as a price worth paying for the last piece of the north that the government still controls. Observers claim that the US intervention provides a rare opportunity for a political solution, which is the only way out of the disaster that has engulfed Yemen.
