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‘Delving into Details’ Characterizes New Washington Policy on Yemen

US President Joe Biden - EPA
US President Joe Biden - EPA
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‘Delving into Details’ Characterizes New Washington Policy on Yemen

US President Joe Biden - EPA
US President Joe Biden - EPA

With Washington appointing a special envoy to Yemen and President Joe Biden expressing his desire for conflict to end in the war-torn Arab country, it seems that US policy on Yemen is being steered in a new direction.

Unlike its predecessors, the Biden administration is showing great interest in getting involved in the particularities of the conflict.

The Trump and Obama administrations, from 2014 until 2020, maintained consistent policies on Yemen that limited US involvement to confronting terrorism, supporting UN efforts to promote a political solution, and providing relief aid to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

US political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Trump administration has made few high-level diplomatic attempts to directly mediate internal conflicts in Yemen and contribute to reaching a settlement.

However, senior Republican and Democratic members of congress instructed the administration not to directly engage in talks and to allow UN negotiators to play a greater role in the Yemeni peace process.

The Trump administration was advised to support Arab Gulf states and exert maximum pressure on Iran.

Biden has long slammed US policy on Yemen as ineffective and urged Washington to engage in the details of the conflict.

“The Biden administration is aware that Iran's support for the Houthis is exacerbating the conflict in Yemen, especially after the US Department of Defense discovering caches of potentially Iran-made advanced weapons destined for Houthis,” sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They added that many members of congress now share Biden’s vision on increasing direct US involvement for settling the Yemeni conflict.

“The Biden administration should chart a new course for Yemen, breaking from the flawed policies under Presidents Obama and Trump. That means retaking a leadership role to secure US interests: defeating al-Qaeda’s threat, reducing Iranian influence, stabilizing the region, and addressing humanitarian conditions,” wrote Katherine Zimmerman, a political researcher at Critical Threats.

“Yemen’s myriad conflicts even beyond its civil war have created opportunities for al-Qaeda and the Houthis to strengthen, destabilized the Arabian Peninsula, and exacerbated already-poor humanitarian conditions,” she explained.

“The US should help resolve the key underlying issue: the future division of power and resources in Yemen.”

Zimmerman added that the US should ensure the Houthis do not benefit from assistance programs.

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Arab World

US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
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US Hits Hezbollah with Fresh Sanctions, Says Iran Controls it

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the US Department Of The Treasury on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., US, February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo

The United States announced new sanctions Thursday against a Hezbollah financing network, while highlighting the Lebanese armed group's close ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Hezbollah's legal designation as a terrorist organization has been amended to note that it operates in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," particularly the elite Quds Force, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The new redesignation "specifies that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation," a State Department official said.

"This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese state."

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with a heavy air campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

"This action builds on years of US designations that have repeatedly documented the operational, financial, and logistical integration between Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF," the State Department official said, calling Hezbollah "an extension" of the latter.

"It is not a Lebanese resistance movement," as Hezbollah describes itself, the official said.

The new sanctions target 10 people who are allegedly part of a network that transfers cash to Hezbollah, which has already been punished with US sanctions many times, the Treasury statement said.

The network utilizes couriers travelling on commercial airline flights “to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions," the statement said.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier on Thursday that he would hold a press conference on Monday about "the toughest sanctions in history" that Washington plans to impose on Iran.

He said that a plan to sharply increase pain from economic sanctions on Iran aims to "collapse" the country's government.

"It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime," he told CNBC. "This is going to be the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world."

Arab World

Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese Territories

Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
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Arab League Chief Condemns Israeli Violations in Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese Territories

Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)
Arab League headquarters in Cairo (The League's official Facebook page)

Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Fahmy denounced Israel’s violations against Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territories saying they cannot be viewed as isolated incidents or justified by fabricated security claims.

He said these actions reflect a persistent approach marked by the use of force, the imposition of a fait accompli, and violations of states' sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.

In a statement, Fahmy asserted that Israel continues to act as a state that disregards international law. He called on the UN Security Council and the international community to take responsibility and implement practical measures to stop these violations and end the policy of impunity.

Fahmy underscored that Israel's actions not only threaten countries in the region but also undermine the credibility of the international legal order. He said they reinforce the notion that force can serve as an alternative to international legitimacy.

Arab World

Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus

(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Abdi Announces Completion of SDF’s Civil, Military Integration with Damascus

(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
(FILES) Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

The integration of the Kurdish administration within Syria's state institutions is now complete, Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said on Thursday.

The announcement follows months of negotiations between the two sides after a January agreement that called for the full integration of Kurdish civil and military institutions into the state -- a move Washington deemed "historic.”

"I want to say that the phase of integrating military, security and administrative institutions into national state institutions is complete and finished," Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said at an event in Qamishli in northeastern Syria.

"From now on, we begin a new phase," he added.

"Our struggle will continue, to cement our people's rights in the constitution."

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Damascus on March 10, 2025 (SANA)

The January agreement, signed by Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, followed clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and the new authorities' forces that saw the Kurds lose swathes of territory they held in the oil-rich north and northeast.

Amid the violence, al-Sharaa signed on January 16 a decree enshrining the Kurds' national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a national language.

A photo showing SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi with his fighters wearing the military uniform of the Syrian Ministry of Defense as part of the integration steps last February (social media)

In February, Noureddine Ahmed Eissa, a Kurd from the city of Qamishli, was appointed governor of Hasakeh. In March, senior Kurdish military official Sipan Hamo was appointed regional assistant defense minister.

As part of the deal's implementation, government forces entered the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli, and Damascus took over the management of Qamishli airport and key oil fields.

US troops also transferred more than 5,700 ISIS detainees in previously Kurdish-controlled camps to neighboring Iraq.