US Should Not End Its Support For Saudi-Led Coalition In Yemen War - Pompeo

The Trump administration opposes congressional efforts to curb US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th March, 2019) The Trump administration opposes congressional efforts to curb US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

"We all want this conflict to end, we all want to improve the dire humanitarian situation, but the Trump administration fundamentally disagrees that curbing our assistance to the Saudi-led coalition is the way to achieve these goals," Pompeo said.

On Thursday, the US Senate passed a joint resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemeni conflict. The White House has indicated that Trump will veto the legislation.

Pompeo argued that to stop the conflict and halt the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, the United States should assist the Saudi-led coalition's efforts to counter the Houthi movement, backed by Iran, and prevent Yemen from turning into Iran's "puppet state."

"The way to alleviate the many people suffering is not to prolong the conflict by handicapping our partners in the fight, but by giving the Saudi-led coalition the support needed to defeat Iranian-backed rebels and ensure just peace," Pompeo said.

Since 2015, the United States has provided members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen with military assistance such as intelligence sharing, logistics support and, until recently, aerial refueling.

Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Shiite Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, backed by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, for several years. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.

The intense fighting between the two sides resulted in one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises, with about 22 million people in Yemen currently in need of some form of humanitarian assistance or protection, according to the UN figures.