After removing the Houthis from the list of terrorism and intensifying communication with them, will Washington's new policy solve the Yemeni crisis?

At a time when the United States pursued a new policy in Yemen focused on removing the Houthi group from the list of terrorism, the group escalated its attack on the city of Ma'rib, in central Yemen, and bombed the southern regions of Saudi Arabia with drones.

This is what the internationally recognized Yemeni government sees, as a senior source in the government said that Washington's move encouraged the Houthi group to mount a military escalation towards the city of Marib, the stronghold of government forces and the source of oil and gas.

He added - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the Houthis felt that the international community might stand by them if they controlled the land.

He explained that the government is waiting until the moment for what the US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, will do, indicating that Washington has not shown great interaction with the government, while announcing back channels of communication with the Houthis.

Al-Jazeera Net tried to communicate with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yemeni government, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, but he did not respond.

The Yemeni government had intensified its support for Trump's decision to include the Houthi group on the terrorism list, but Washington, in another change of position, removed the group from the list, and the decision appeared to be a diplomatic victory for the Houthis.

Fine communication

The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the unrecognized Houthi government, Hisham Sharaf, said that his government's contacts with the new US administration are continuing through mediators at the highest level.

He explained - to Al Jazeera Net - that the State Department had contacted the US State Department to correct the mistakes of the administration of former President Donald Trump, and to show the facts about the situation in Yemen, far from what Riyadh and Abu Dhabi envision.

"We in the National Salvation Government, which includes Ansar Allah group, the Congress Party, and the rest of the political components, are doing our part to clarify the reality of the situation in Yemen, and we discussed with the new US administration many developments," he said.

According to the minister, his government has made wide contacts with the new US administration, in which it clarified the implications of the previous US administration’s decision regarding including the Houthi group in the list of terrorism, and its impact on the humanitarian situation.

The US State Department’s regional spokesperson in Yemen, Geraldine Griffiths, confirmed to Al Jazeera Net what Lenderking said that his government is communicating with the Houthis, to better press for achieving a negotiated settlement, as it is the only way to end the war in Yemen.

Houthi fighters on the outskirts of Sanaa (Reuters)

New policy

While Griffiths was stressing the need for the Houthi group to stop the attack on the city of Marib, the government forces backed by tribesmen were repelling the most violent attack launched by the Houthis since the war began at the end of 2014.

The head of the Military Press Division in the government forces, Rashad Al-Mikhlafi, told Al-Jazeera Net that the Houthis launched attacks on the Hailan and Al-Mushajeh front, west of Marib, and a number of other fronts, but they clashed with the strong defenses of the government forces.

As for Minister Sharaf, he said that the attack on Marib has nothing to do with the new US policy, indicating that it comes as a preemptive strike after the Ministry of Defense in his government monitored the movements of military sectors of the government forces in Wadi Ubaidah, south of Ma'rib.

"The other side took advantage of Trump's decision towards Yemen, and tried to launch a strike against our forces, but we pre-empted the attack and secured the area, and currently we are seeking to control Marib," he added.

According to the minister, the Houthi takeover of the city of Marib would be a step towards achieving peace.

The Houthis intensified their attacks against Saudi Arabia (Reuters)

Saudi plan

The Houthi Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf may refer to the stalled negotiations between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia for more than 5 months, and the Houthi attempt to force Saudi Arabia to return to negotiations.

The Houthis launch drones almost daily towards Saudi cities, and Sharaf said that this comes in response to the raids of the Saudi-Emirati coalition in support of the government forces fighting the Houthi battles in Marib.

"We asked that the coalition air forces not interfere and support the other party in Marib, but their (coalition) raids are continuing. We want them to let us fight our war as Yemenis," he said.

According to a source familiar with the previous negotiations between the Houthis and the Saudis, who preferred not to reveal his identity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, Riyadh indicated that it was ready to accept the Houthis in exchange for securing the borders and stopping the Houthi bombing of Saudi cities, and Riyadh's announcement to stop the air strikes.

He told Al-Jazeera Net, "There was a project to hand over north Yemen to the Houthis and the south to the southern transitional, but the appointment of an Iranian ambassador in Sanaa, and the Houthis raising the ceiling of their demands for Saudi Arabia to enter peace negotiations, stopped the negotiations between the two parties."

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is making efforts to reach a political solution in Yemen, according to what the Saudi Press Agency said in a phone call between Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Biden adopts a new policy in Yemen (Al-Jazeera)

Regional policies

For his part, the regional director of the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, Walid al-Hariri, believes that the administration of US President Joe Biden is moving towards establishing a new US foreign policy for Yemen, the features of which have begun to become evident with the suspension of US support for the Saudi military alliance in Yemen.

He added - to Al-Jazeera Net - that Washington's appointment of a US special envoy to Yemen to negotiate a peace agreement between the warring Yemeni parties, give the humanitarian situation in Yemen a more urgent priority in dealing with the Yemen file, and the removal of the Houthis from the list of terrorism shows the form of the new policy.

He indicated that the development of this policy will take time because Trump did not coordinate with the Biden administration during the transitional period, and that its implementation on the ground requires a special budget.

But Hariri does not see that Washington might go far in Yemen, unlike its ally Saudi Arabia, and said, "What is clear is that the United States' support for Saudi Arabia and its regional allies will remain strong, while it will try to stop Iranian support for the group as part of a broader negotiation deal with Iran."