US restores aid to Houthi-held northern Yemen

Mar 12, 2021

The United States is restoring aid to Houthi-held parts of northern Yemen “to help meet the region’s critical needs,” the US special envoy for the war-torn country confirmed Friday. 

The announcement comes nearly a year after the Trump administration suspended $73 million in US humanitarian aid to northern Yemen, citing concerns the Iran-aligned rebels were interfering with the distribution of humanitarian supplies.  

Aid organizations called on the Biden administration to restore the funding, warning that failure to do so would worsen what’s already considered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Even before the outbreak of civil war in 2014, Yemen was the poorest country in the region. Today, roughly 80% of the population requires humanitarian assistance to survive, the United Nations estimates.  

“Just today, the US restored humanitarian assistance and funding in north Yemen to help meet the region’s critical need,” the US special envoy for Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, said at a virtual event hosted by the Atlantic Council. 

President Joe Biden has made ending the civil war in Yemen a foreign policy priority. Last month, he announced an end to US support for the Saudi-led coalition’s offensive operations in Yemen, and appointed Lenderking, a veteran diplomat, as part of his push for peace between the Saudi-backed government and the Houthis.