U.S., Saudis agree on Yemen, Obama says
Hosting Saudi Arabia’s new monarch for the first time, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. shares King Salman’s desire for an inclusive government in Yemen that can relieve that impoverished Arab country’s humanitarian crisis. Their talks also addressed the Iran nuclear deal, a source of lingering tension in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
Since March, the U.S. has been supporting a Saudi-led intervention against Yemen’s Iran-aided Shiite rebels, who have chased the country’s U.S.-recognized president into exile. But the Obama administration is concerned about the conflict’s rising death toll that is now in the thousands, while aid groups lament their inability to provide support to all Yemenis in need.
“We share concerns about Yemen and the need to restore a function government that is inclusive and that can relieve the humanitarian situation there,” Obama told reporters who were allowed into the Oval Office for brief comments from both leaders. The meeting, Obama noted, was taking place at a “challenging time in world affairs, particularly in the Middle East.”
On Friday, 22 members of the United Arab Emirates’ military were killed while fighting the rebels known as the Houthis, the official news agency WAM said. It was believed to be the country’s highest number of military casualties since its founding in 1971. Pro-government Yemeni security officials said the troops were killed when a Houthi missile hit a weapons storage depot.
Beyond Yemen, Saudi Arabia wants the U.S. to increase support for Syrian rebels fighting ISIL and seeking to topple Syria President Bashar Assad’s embattled government after four-and-a-half years of civil war. And the Saudis want assurances from the U.S. that the Iran nuclear deal comes with a broader effort to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.
Four years after Obama demanded Assad’s ouster, the Syrian leader remains in power through significant help from Iran. The U.S. has largely abandoned efforts to uproot the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah from its dominant position in Lebanon. Washington has struggled to limit Tehran’s influence in Shiite-dominated Iraq. Despite the Saudi intervention in Yemen, the Houthis maintain their hold over much of the country.