Riyadh: Saudi Arabia pledges $368m in new economic support for Yemen

Riyadh (ANN)-  Saudi Arabia has announced fresh economic support for Yemen worth SR1.38 billion ($368 million) through the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The package includes budget support, funding for petroleum derivatives, and operational costs for Prince Mohammed bin Salman Hospital in Aden.

Riyadh said the aid reflects its commitment to helping stabilize Yemen’s economy and backing the Yemeni government’s reform efforts.
The aid comes under the direction of King Salman and based on the recommendations from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, SPA added.

Riyadh said the aid reflects its commitment to helping stabilize Yemen’s economy and backing the Yemeni government’s reform efforts.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a deadly campaign against Yemen from the air, land, and sea since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstate former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement. Over the past two years, the Houthis have been running state affairs and defending Yemeni people against the Saudi aggression.

The campaign has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of the cooperation of Saudi Arabia’s regional and Western allies.

Saudi-led coalition that launched a military campaign in Yemen from early 2015 to support the Gulf-backed government against the Houthis, who had seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.

The UAE ended much of its presence in Yemen in 2019 and major fighting in the civil war paused in 2022 with a truce and peace talks, leaving the Houthis in control of swathes of the country and much of the population.

The Houthis, who are closely aligned with Iran and opposed to Israel, began attacking Red Sea shipping in November 2023 in what they said was a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.

U.S. President Donald Trump escalated airstrikes against the Houthis in March, warning the group that if its attacks on shipping did not stop, “hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before”.

The Houthis, who waged a series of civil wars against the Yemeni government from 2003 to 2009, withstood years of bombardment by the Saudi-led coalition from 2015 with little change to the main front lines in the conflict.

The Red Sea coast, where the Wall Street Journal reported that Yemeni factions were planning an offensive, was the site of a major, ultimately unsuccessful assault by coalition-backed forces on Hodeidah, the biggest port held by the Houthis.

The coalition had to navigate differences between pro-government, Sunni Muslim Islamist and southern separatist factions among its Yemeni allies. Saudi Arabia and the UAE supported different factions, analysts say.

Saudi Arabia wound down its campaign in Yemen with peace talks and a truce in 2022, shortly before agreeing to a diplomatic rapprochement with Iran.