Arab League optimistic about achieving progress in Yemen

The AL official rebuffed the possibility of holding an Arab-Iranian dialogue in an endeavour to bring a solution to the Yemeni crisis, noting that Iran is interfering in Arab affairs.

“Threats by Iran do not go in harmony with the calls for dialogue,” he pointed out.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The war has killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children, and displaced 3 million others, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world’s number one humanitarian crisis, with 7 million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera causing more than 2,000 deaths.