WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Saturday with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to discuss the imminent expiration of the UN-mediated truce in Yemen on Sunday, the State Department said.
“The Secretary welcomed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to extending the truce,” the State Department said in a statement after their call.
Yemen has been split by a seven-year-old war pitting a fractious coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi group. The Houthis largely hold the north and the internationally recognised government is based in the south.
A UN-mediated truce between the coalition and the Houthis has largely held since April.
Last month, sources told Reuters that rifts within Yemen’s new presidential council were delaying approval of reforms needed to unlock $3 billion in financial aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that would help ease a severe foreign exchange crunch.
