ASSESSMENTS

The Latest Failed Attempt at Peace Talks Means More of the Same in Yemen

Sep 17, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) holds a defense sales chart with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office on March 20. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are continuing their operations against Yemen's Houthis, but some in the West are questioning their support for the war.

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

The failure of another round of U.N.-mediated peace talks over Yemen's civil war will prolong the conflict, giving the Saudi-led coalition an opportunity to make military advances.
Though both the Saudi coalition and its foes, the Houthis, will try to use the talks' collapse to their advantage, continuing their fight will jeopardize their political, diplomatic and military positions.
Iran and extremist groups will try to capitalize on the conflict for as long as they can since they benefit from the continuing hostilities.

The latest round of U.N.-mediated peace talks over Yemen's civil war has fallen apart. The conflict's principal parties -- the internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi and the insurgent Houthi militia -- failed even to meet at the negotiations in Geneva. Instead, they will return to the battlefield to try to settle their differences. That's unwelcome news for many of the parties involved. In the short term, the two sides of the conflict will try to gain from more fighting. In the long term, however, the war's protraction will jeopardize the interests of the government and the rebels alike. It will also cast doubt on the military and diplomatic reputations of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which lead the international coalition against the Houthis, and put the United States' fight against extremists in Yemen on the back burner. But for Iran and jihadist groups such...

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