The US needs to put more diplomatic focus on Yemen, Washington's former envoy to the country said on Friday, as the Houthi rebels make major advances.
Tim Lenderking, who served as special envoy for Yemen during former president Joe Biden's administration, said that interested parties need to act now to halt Houthi expansion.
“They need more support politically, and at the end of the day, they're going to need more support militarily,” Mr Lenderking said during a webinar hosted by the Middle East Institute in Washington.
His comments come after the Houthis took control of Yemen's entire western coast, including Mokha port and the strategically important island of Perim, giving them dominance over the Bab Al Mandeb strait.
Saudi Arabia, which led a Gulf coalition against the Houthis starting in 2015, has been trading strikes with the Houthis in response to the group's expansion. Following "multiple" unattributed strikes, Riyadh announced on Friday it was shutting down its vital East-West pipeline.
Mr Lenderking said that the US approach to Yemen has been decidedly laissez-faire diplomatically speaking since President Donald Trump returned to office, and that that needs to change.
“This administration also came in asking the question, what can Yemen do for us? Well, Yemen can spoil our day,” he said.
And the most recent Houthi advance shows just how much. The group's control over the Bab Al Mandeb, which lies on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, could give Iran an edge in the war with the US, allowing it to further restrict regional shipping and supply routes.
Mr Lenderking called recent Houthi advances into the islands near Yemeni territory “extremely worrisome”.
“It points to the fact that this is a situation that really warrants not just Saudi attention, but US attention as well, and not just at the military level,” he said.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when the Houthi rebels pushed the internationally recognised Yemeni government out of the capital, Sanaa.
A truce struck in 2022 has mostly held, but the Houthis have been carrying out attacks on international shipping near Yemen's shores for several years. The US, under Mr Trump, responded to those threats by carrying out a nearly two-month bombing campaign on Houthi targets last year.
F Gregory Gause, associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, noted that while more US involvement would bolster Gulf allies, “it's really hard to bomb the Houthis out of commission”. He highlighted the importance of the Iran-Houthi connection, saying the only way to exert leverage over the group was through Tehran.
“Let's face it: the only thing the Iranians have going for them here is the ability to inflict pain on the larger world to try to bring pressure on the United States to end its war against Iran,” said Mr Gause.
As for next steps for the US, Mr Gause said Taiz was a probable target for the Houthis, saying that if US and Saudi support was given to Yemeni government forces, it may stop the group's expansion efforts.
Mr Lenderking said the US should urge Gulf countries to develop a “common, co-ordinated approach to Yemen” politically. Washington should also “demonstrate that we are watching this problem, that we are engaged, and that we are concerned about it.
“Action now to stem the Houthi advance is what is essential to this particular chapter,” he said.
