Local Editor
CNN reported that he Trump administration has turned against a UN Security Council resolution calling for a Yemen ceasefire and is now blocking it. The five permanent members of the UNSC have the ability to veto resolutions, so US hostility to it is fatal for the measure.
The network stated that when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman saw the resolution, he was absolutely furious and threw a fit. The Saudis have some sort of hold over Trump.
Now Riyadh appears to have pulled some sort of strings to get Trump to block the UNSC resolution. This new US position is at odds with what outgoing UN ambassador Nikki Haley has been saying about the dire situation in Yemen for the past couple of months, and she appears to have been over-ruled by her boss.
CNN obtained a copy of the British-crafted resolution, which critics of the war had already seen as inadequate. It only calls for a ceasefire at Hodeida port and compliments the Saudi war effort, slamming the Houthis for defending themselves. But even this mild resolution has been deep-sixed.
The Houthis have accepted the notion of a ceasefire at Hodeida if the UN will send in blue helmets. That is, they will only stand down from efforts to defend the port if it won’t go into Saudi hands– they want it to be internationally controlled as a price of the ceasefire from their side. They also insist that port duties and revenues still be sent to the National Bank in Sana’a, which they control.
Even Republicans in the Senate have grown restive over US policy toward Yemen, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will brief them Thursday in a bid to head off a move to legislate a US disengagement from the war effort.
The US began supplying the Saudis with logistical support such as in-air refueling of their fighter jets and bombers, and strategic help with identifying key targets. The US military has been frustrated for some time, according to off the record statements to the press, by the Saudi insistence on hitting targets that hurt civilians, such a bridges over which food is delivered, even though Washington has advised against it.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
