Intensified Yemen Attacks Complicate U.S. Peace Plans by Asa Fitch and Farnaz Fassihi – Wall Street Journal
A Saudi-led coalition and its allies have intensified attacks on a key Yemeni port city to improve their position ahead of peace talks, posing a potential obstacle for U.S. attempts to end Yemen’s war.
The uproar over the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had appeared to create an opening for the U.S. to seek a cease-fire in the three-year Yemen war, a bloody proxy battle between Saudi-supported forces on the ground and the Iran-backed Houthi militia. Instead, 10 days after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a cease-fire by the end of November, peace talks faltered Thursday, and the violence threatened to spin out of control.
The Saudi-led coalition has pounded the area around the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah with more than 200 airstrikes since Nov. 3, aid workers there say. In parallel, their Yemeni allies have stepped up a ground campaign to defeat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who hold the city…