US attempt to salvage Yemen truce… Linderking on Middle East tour
A US attempt to back an UN-brokered truce in Yemen, following recent Houthi breakthroughs and fears that peace efforts could collapse.
The US State Department said that Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Linderking left Monday for Saudi Arabia and Jordan to continue Washington’s diplomatic efforts in support of the UN truce.
In a statement on the trip following President Joe Biden’s visit to the region earlier this month, she said Tim Linderking will continue our efforts to help advance peace.
Yemen is witnessing a humanitarian truce that came into effect on April 2, but despite the Yemeni government’s concessions, Houthi militias are refusing to implement one of its key provisions – lifting the siege on Taiz and opening roads under the UN agreement.
Al-Rawda Neighborhood Crime
The U.S. diplomatic tour comes two days after Houthi militias targeted al-Rawda neighborhood in Taiz with artillery shells, injuring 12 children, in an incident the Yemeni government described as a “heinous crime.
The Government of Yemen issued a national and humanitarian appeal to all humanity to condemn the behavior of this terrorist group, to act to confront its brutal crimes and to protect civilians, stressing that continued silence would have serious consequences for international peace and security.
Siege of Taiz
“The Houthi militias are continuing their siege of Taiz, deliberately targeting civilians, as happened Saturday evening with shelling of a gathering of children under the truce”, said Brig. Gen. Sadeq Doyd, spokesman for the Yemeni National Resistance.
Doyd tweeted that the attack, in conjunction with the presence of the UN envoy’s military adviser and his delegation, within kilometers of the crime scene, underscored that Houthi militias were nothing more than killing and criminality, and could not be peacebuilding partners.
