Sana’a Ignores Washington’s Offers… The Word Belongs to the Battlefield

NYN | Reports and analyses:

As a new round of negotiations between Yemeni parties, sponsored by the United Nations and with notable Saudi presence, began in Muscat yesterday, the United States dispatched its envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, to the region. This move aims to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough that could help reduce the military escalation led by Sana’a Forces in their maritime operations in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.

This American effort coincides with a reduction in U.S. military presence in the area, following the withdrawal of the aircraft carrier “Eisenhower” and Washington’s postponement of deploying the replacement carrier “Roosevelt.”

The U.S. State Department announced in a statement yesterday that “Lenderking will visit Saudi Arabia and Oman this week to continue discussions on the military attacks in the Red Sea and the recent detentions of UN employees, diplomats, and international NGO personnel in Sana’a.”

It claimed that “Yemeni operations in the Red Sea threaten progress toward a lasting resolution to the conflict in Yemen and hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemenis,” reiterating Washington’s strong support for “achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in Yemen for the sake of the Yemeni people.” The statement noted that the U.S. envoy “plans to meet with his counterparts to discuss the necessary steps to de-escalate the current situation and support the Yemeni people.”

This comes after Sana’a received renewed attractive offers from Washington through international intermediaries a few days ago.

According to sources in the Yemeni capital, who spoke to “Al-Akhbar,” the United States expressed its willingness to support any agreement that resolves the issue of salaries and addresses the financial and monetary division in the country. This confirms Washington’s role in obstructing the reaching of understandings between Yemeni parties and its involvement in the recent economic escalation initiated by the Saudi-UAE-backed government in Aden against the banking sector in Sana’a.

However, Sana’a doubled its military messages to Washington by unveiling a new naval weapon that recently entered service. The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced the day before yesterday that the Yemeni Navy had introduced a new unmanned military boat into the battle. He stated that “this boat, which features high destructive capability and advanced technology, was used in the operation targeting the Transworld Navigator ship.”

Additionally, Yemeni military media yesterday released footage of the operation carried out by the “Toufan 1” boat, which targeted the aforementioned ship in the Red Sea last week. The footage confirmed the boat’s speed in achieving its targets and its maneuverability.

While military sources in Sana’a confirmed to “Al-Akhbar” that government agencies had received communications from several foreign countries reiterating their commitment to Yemen’s decisions to ban ships from passing to Israeli ports from the Red Sea and Mediterranean, and requested Sana’a not to turn any of their ships into military targets, the U.S. Central Command claimed to have thwarted a major maritime attack in the Red Sea. In a statement issued the day before yesterday, it said, “We engaged with and shot down seven drones in the Red Sea,” coinciding with renewed U.S. and British airstrikes on Hodeidah airport.

In a significant development, a group calling itself “Ahrar Aden” announced its support for Sana’a in confronting Israel.

Activists on social media circulated a video showing a masked man wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, announcing from Aden the launch of the “Sea Crushing” operation in support of Gaza. He said that the group “will not allow the Zionists and their pawns to play on the strings of the internal issue and the central bank, using it as a pretext to stop supporting Gaza in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” referring to decisions taken by Aden Bank, driven by external forces, in recent periods to target the Yemeni economy in response to Sana’a’s support for Gaza.

Source: Al-Akhbar Lebanese Newspaper