(UTV | YEMEN) – The US is to end its support for offensive operations by its allies in Yemen, which has been devastated by a six-year war in which more than 110,000 people are believed to have died.
“The war in Yemen must end,” President Joe Biden said in his first major foreign policy speech.
Under Mr Biden’s two predecessors, the US backed a coalition led by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The conflict has left millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation.
Fighting began in 2014 between a weak Yemeni government and the Houthi rebel movement. It escalated a year later, when Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states – backed by the US, the UK and France – began air strikes against the Houthis.
Mr Biden announced other changes to US foreign policy, such as a significant increase in the number of refugees accepted by the US, and a reversal of the decision to withdraw American troops from Germany, where they have been stationed since the end of World War Two.
His speech marks a sharp break with the policies of former president Donald Trump, who left office last month.
