US officials secretly met representatives of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement over the weekend in Oman as President Donald Trump rejected a request from Saudi Arabia for direct US strikes on the group. Washington instead agreed to provide Riyadh with intelligence as fighting between Saudi Arabia and Ansar Allah intensifies.
Reuters first reported the meeting, which took place on Sunday, on Wednesday. Sources told the outlet that Oman set up the summit between the US and Ansar Allah. They said that the Yemeni officials told the Americans that Ansar Allah was still committed to the ceasefire it agreed to with the US last year.
After Trump returned to the White House, he ordered a major bombing campaign in Yemen in an effort to break the Ansar Allah blockade of Israeli shipping in the Red Sea. Ansar Allah imposed the blockade in response to the genocide in Gaza. After several weeks of fighting, Ansar Allah and the US agreed to a ceasefire that did not include Israel.
Two sources speaking with Reuters said that Yemeni officials told the American diplomats that Ansar Allah does not intend to target any US or Israeli ships and is focused on its war and blockade against Saudi Arabia.
Former deputy US Ambassador to Yemen, Nabeel Khoury told the Guardian that Washington and Ansar Allah reached “kind of tacit understanding.” He explained, “The Houthis are promising the American administration that American and international navigation will not be affected in the Red Sea, but the only danger is to Saudi ships or those carrying Saudi oil.”
The Guardian reporting adds that the meeting resulted in Trump informing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman that the US would not take direct military action in Yemen. MBS made an appeal to Trump to conduct strikes on Ansar Allah’s forces as the group is in the middle of a major offensive.
Trump did agree to provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence. Saudi Arabia has significantly increased the number of strikes in Yemen over the past week. Ansar Allah claims that Saudi Arabia dropped more than 450 bombs on Yemen this week.
It’s notable that the US conducted the meeting despite Ansar Allah being designated as a “foreign terrorist organization,” and one of the Yemeni officials, Mohammad Abdulsalam, is blacklisted by the US.
In 2014, Ansar Allah seized the capital city and took control over most populated regions in Yemen. Initially, the US worked with Ansar Allah to target Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. However, Saudi Arabia viewed Ansar Allah’s control of Yemen as problematic. Riyadh backs a government-in-exile, which it attempted to install in power with a mass bombing campaign, a blockade, and by backing militias opposed to Ansar Allah.
The Barack Obama administration elected to support Saudi’s war to alleviate Riyadh’s concerns over the Iran Nuclear Deal. The war killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused a cholera epidemic, and the blockade resulted in widespread malnutrition among children.
During the war, Ansar Allah developed missile and drone capabilities that were able to cause significant damage to Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure. While Riyadh and Sanaa agreed to a ceasefire in 2022, they have not reached an agreement to end the war. The fighting between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia reignited after the Saudis hit the Sanaa airport twice in July.
