Trump Admin to Shift Toward Saudi Position on Yemen War

By Charles Schmitz | Scholar - The Middle East Institute | Jan 31, 2017

If President Donald Trump’s pick of James Mattis as defense secretary is an indication of the direction of foreign policy in the Middle East, then the U.S. stance towards Yemen will likely align more closely with the approach of Gulf states in pursuing a military victory over the Houthi-Saleh alliance in Sanaa. The Obama administration had diverged, at least partly, from the Gulf position in Yemen by pushing the G.C.C. and the Hadi government toward a negotiated settlement.
In mid-2016, former Secretary of State John Kerry took an active diplomatic role in the region, insisting that the Saudi-backed coalition could not achieve military victory and the campaign only further destabilized Yemen. The United States halted the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia after revelations of their use in Yemen and it pulled a small contingent of advisors from the planning team of the Saudi-led campaign after the deadly bombing of a funeral reception in Sanaa.
However, the Obama administration also agreed to new arms sales to Saudi Arabia, signaling that while the United States may be displeased with civilian casualties in Yemen, it fundamentally remained firm in its commitment to the Saudi view of its security needs. And in Yemen, the Saudis see their security in a Saudi-imposed political order possible only through the surrender of the Houthi-Saleh alliance. Kerry’s plan to form a national reconciliation government in conjunction with a military de-escalation served only to scare Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the safety of Riyadh and back to the seat of his government in Aden for fear his personal position was in danger. http://www.mei.edu/content/article/update-yemen-situation