Saudi Arabia on Wednesday praised the “positive results” of talks with Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they visited the kingdom for peace talks, though Riyadh released few details on their negotiations to end the war tearing at the Arab world’s poorest nation.
The five days of talks, which represented the highest-level, public negotiations with the Houthis in the kingdom, come as Saudi Arabia tries a renewed bid to end the years-long coalition war it launched on Yemen. That conflict had become enmeshed in a wider regional proxy war the kingdom faced against its longtime regional rival Iran, with which it reached a détente earlier this year.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry in a statement early Wednesday marking the end of the Houthis’ trip “welcomed the positive results of the serious discussions regarding reaching a road map to support the peace path in Yemen.”
“The kingdom continues to stand with Yemen and its brotherly people and … encourages the Yemeni parties to sit at the negotiating table to reach a comprehensive and lasting political solution in Yemen under the supervision of the United Nations,” the statement read.
The Houthi delegation even met with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, the brother of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during their visit. In a social media post, Prince Khalid referred to those visiting him as the “Sanaa delegation,” not using either the Houthis or the rebel group’s formal name, Ansar Allah.
“I emphasised the kingdom’s support for Yemen and reaffirmed our commitment to promoting dialogue among all parties to reach a comprehensive political solution under UN supervision,” Prince Khalid said.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the chief Houthi negotiator, wrote online that the rebels “held extensive meetings with the Saudi side in which we discussed some options and alternatives to overcome disagreements that previous rounds touched upon.”