Yemen welcomes Saudi peace proposal to end 8-year-long conflict with Houthi rebels

Al-Mukalla: The government of Yemen has welcomed Saudi Arabia’s extensive diplomatic efforts to end more than eight years of war between the country and Iran-backed Houthi militia.

Saudi officials were in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, on Sunday for talks with the Houthi rebels, as part of international efforts to find a settlement to Yemen's eight-year conflict, officials said.

Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s minister of information, said that his government applauds Saudi efforts to end the conflict in Yemen and restore peace and stability in the country, and that it would support any peace initiative that would end the suffering of Yemenis.

“We express our appreciation for the exceptional efforts made by the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to bring peace to Yemen, as well as our full support for their efforts to achieve peace in the region and move it from a stage of conflicts and internal strife to one of stability and security,” the Yemeni minister said.

He added that the Arab coalition military intervention in Yemen in March 2015 had put a halt to Houthi military advances and shifted the balance of power in the government’s favor, allowing them to expel Houthi forces from about 80 percent of Yemeni territory.

In addition to military assistance to the Yemeni government, Al-Eryani said that for more than a decade, Saudi Arabia sponsored the GCC peace initiative which resulted in the resignation of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The kingdom also sponsored many rounds of peace talks between political parties in Yemen, offered a peace initiative in 2021 to end the war, and injected billions of dollars into the Yemeni economy.

“We greatly value the political, economic, and humanitarian assistance provided to the Yemeni government and people by the Saudi-led Legitimacy Support Coalition.”

The Yemeni minister’s remarks were made after the Saudi ambassador to the country, Mohammed Al-Jaber, met on Sunday with Mahdi Al-Mashat , head of the Houthi's supreme political council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen, to discuss the final text of a peace agreement to end the conflict.

The proposal contains a six-month extension to the UN-brokered truce, an end to all combat on all fronts, direct UN-sponsored negotiations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis and a two-year transitional period.

After approval by the Yemeni government, delegates from Oman and Saudi Arabia who arrived in Sanaa over the weekend brought the proposal before top Houthi officials.