Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said this week from Moscow that the Yemen truce agreement is Riyadh’s ‘priority’
Emirati newspaper Al-Arab released a report on 9 March stating that an agreement to extend the UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire agreement between the Ansarallah resistance and the Saudi-led coalition may be announced during “the coming days.”
According to sources cited by Al-Arab, the truce extension, “this time will be according to the specifications of a comprehensive peace agreement, not just a cease-fire agreement.”
The report states that this may happen during Ramadan, which begins on 22 March.
“Dialogue will continue despite all the difficulties, as a result of the international and regional insistence that the negotiations not fail,” the newspaper added about the Omani-mediated talks between Ansarallah and Saudi Arabia.
It goes on to say that the truce agreement will be extended for one year, focusing on economic and humanitarian aspects.
Coinciding with the Emirati report was a press conference held in Moscow between Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during which “the broad points of the ongoing negotiations with [Ansarallah] through Omani mediation” were discussed.
Farhan stated during the press conference on 9 March that Saudi Arabia’s priority is the ceasefire and dialogue among the Yemenis themselves.
Two days earlier, on 7 March, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MbS) met with the President of the Saudi-backed administration in Yemen, Rashad al-Alimi of the Transitional Presidential Council. During the meeting, MbS reportedly briefed Alimi on the developments in efforts to renew the truce.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Ansarallah-affiliated National Salvation Government (NSG) have been involved in negotiations – mediated by Muscat – and aimed at extending the truce agreement, which expired on 2 October 2022.
As a result of these negotiations, Saudi Arabia has reportedly agreed to the Sanaa’s terms, which include lifting the blockade on the port of Hodeidah and Sanaa International Airport and paying government employees’ salaries in NSG territory.
Even though no progress has been made in this regard yet, analysts suggest that Saudi Arabia has become more serious regarding reaching a solution, given that the war has become highly costly for it.
Just one day after the Emirati report was released, on 10 March, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced the resumption of diplomatic relations after seven years of severed ties. The resumption of ties came after a series of secret talks held in Beijing and mediated by China.
Political analysts have suggested that a Saudi-Iranian rapprochement will ease the process of renewing the truce agreement in Yemen, given the close relationship between Tehran and the NSG.