US Envoy To Visit Gulf States For Talks On Ending Conflict In Yemen - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2021) US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking is heading to several Gulf countries this week for meetings with senior officials on bringing the Yemeni conflict to its end, the State Department announced in a release on Monday.

"US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking will travel to several Gulf countries from February 22 to March 3," the release said. "He will meet with senior government officials in the region and UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths. US Special Envoy Lenderking's discussions will focus on the United States' dual-track approach to end the conflict in Yemen: a lasting political solution and humanitarian relief for the Yemeni people."

Griffiths has started his visit to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to negotiate a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Monday.

Earlier in the month, violent clashes erupted over the rebel Houthi movement's attempts to advance toward Marib's Sirwah district, home to a strategically important military camp of the Yemeni government troops located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away from the provincial capital.

President Joe Biden announced earlier that the war in Yemen must end, retracted US support for any offensive military operations in the country and revoked the Trump administration decision to blacklist the Houthis' opposition movement as a global terrorist group.

Yemen has been gripped by a civil war between the Yemeni government forces, led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi movement since 2014. The Saudi-led coalition of Arab states entered the conflict on the side of the government in 2015, after the Houthis made significant gains during the early days of clashes.