White House: Joe Biden to Announce End of American Support for War in Yemen

The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden would end American support for offensive operations in Yemen.

The news was revealed by Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan at the White House press briefing.

Biden will announce his decision during his speech at the State Department on Thursday afternoon, according to Sullivan.

Military operations in Yemen have earned bipartisan criticism in Washington, DC, as Congress passed legislation to end the Saudi-led operations.

The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in an effort to end American support of the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen that began in 2015 under the Obama administration.

President Donald Trump vetoed the bill in April 2019, citing the resolution as an “unnecessary” and “dangerous” attempt to weaken the executive branch’s constitutional authority.

Sullivan said Biden would also announce the creation of a special envoy to Yemen for further diplomatic relations and will also end arms sales of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia.

“We have spoken with both senior officials in the UAE and senior officials in Saudi Arabia, we have consulted with them,” he said. “We are pursuing a policy of no surprises when it comes to these types of actions so they understand that this is happening and they understand our reasoning and rationale for it.”