Hassan El-Tayyab discusses the state of the war in Yemen. The Biden administration famously announced in February that it would be ending support for Saudi “offensive operations” in Yemen, including targeting assistance and maintenance on their military equipment. In the last few days, however, the U.S. military has clarified the position: it will, in fact, still be supporting the Saudi air force in its bombing operations, seemingly the most important part of Biden’s supposed decision to stop helping them. But leaving that whole issue aside, what’s really causing the most devastation on Yemeni civilians—and especially young children—is the Saudi blockade of the Hodedah port. With the blockade in place, it has become difficult to get much-needed supplies like food and basic medicine into the country, making an already dire humanitarian crisis that much worse. The UN has estimated that 400,000 Yemeni children could starve to death in 2021, and the U.S. is poised to let it happen.
Hassan El-Tayyab is a musician and peace activist, who works as the lead lobbyist on Middle East policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
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Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from this website. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. Visit https://scotthorton.org