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<\/p>\nSaudi Arabia says negotiations ongoing<\/p>\n
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The Council has moved into Yemen\u2019s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra<\/a>. The Saudi statement said meditation efforts were aimed at having the Council\u2019s forces return to \u201ctheir previous positions outside of the two governorates and hand over the camps in those areas\u201d to the National Shield Forces. <\/p>\n \u201cThese efforts remain in progress to restore the situation to its previous statement,\u201d the ministry added. <\/p>\n Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967 to 1990. There were calls for demonstrations Thursday in Aden to support political forces wanting South Yemen to again secede from Yemen, but it wasn\u2019t immediately clear if they would go ahead given Saudi Arabia\u2019s announcement. Aden has been the seat of power in Yemen for forces aligned against the Houthis.<\/p>\n The confrontation also has put pressure on the relationship between neighboring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and are members of the OPEC oil cartel but also have vied for influence and international business in recent years. <\/p>\n The Council\u2019s moves in Yemen follow an escalation of violence in Sudan<\/a>, another nation on the Red Sea where the kingdom and the Emirates back opposing forces in an ongoing war. <\/p>\n It\u2019s the latest chaos to grip war-torn Yemen<\/p>\n The Houthis seized Yemen\u2019s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. Tehran denies arming the rebels, although Iranian-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield<\/a> and in sea shipments heading to Yemen despite a United Nations arms embargo.<\/p>\n A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen\u2019s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting have pushed the Arab world\u2019s poorest nation to the brink of famine.<\/p>\n The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world\u2019s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.<\/p>\n The Houthis launched attacks on hundreds of ships in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly disrupting regional shipping. <\/p>\n While traffic has inched up recently in the lull in attacks, many shippers continue to go around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.<\/p>\n Further chaos in Yemen could again draw in the United States. The U.S. launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the rebels<\/a> earlier this year that President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Mideast. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using America\u2019s B-2 bombers<\/a> to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.<\/p>\n The Houthis meanwhile announced plans for a funeral Thursday for several of its fighters, including Maj. Gen. Zakaria Abdullah Yahya Hajar, whom analysts identified as the group\u2019s drone and missile chief. U.S. forces reportedly targeted Hajar, who allegedly received training from the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in a strike in March in Sanaa. The Houthis provided no information on how or when he died in the funeral announcement. <\/p>\n