The U.S. designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group puts "additional pressure" on the group that may discourage attacks on ships in the Red Sea, but ultimately, a diplomatic solution will have to be found in Yemen, the U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen said on Wednesday. Envoy Tim Lenderking said the purpose of the strikes was to destroy the Houthis' ability to attack ships. The Houthi attacks are undermining progress in the peace process in the broader Yemeni conflict, Lenderking said after holding meetings in Saudi Arabia and Oman. "We favour a diplomatic solution. We know that there is no military solution," he said. According to Lenderking, there has been a 15% reduction in ships being able to dock at Yemen's Al-Hudaydah port, obstructing humanitarian aid.
As their battle against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen rages on, some fighter pilots assigned to the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower are starting to stencil "victory marks" on the fuselage of their jets to showcase how much ordnance they've unleashed and how many Houthi assets they've taken out. Photos made public by the Navy this month show the marks on at least one jet, a reflection of successful engagements flown by that particular jet, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations. Houthis say the American strikes have failed to destroy their military capabilities.
The representative office of the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Yemen has completed the construction of 83 2BHK housing units, each 24sq m, as part of a project to shelter disaster-affected families in Taiz, at the cost of $418,424 (QR 1,525,155). The project aims to encourage internally displaced people (IDPs) to return to their home villages by providing safe and appropriate shelters that protect against extreme winter and summer weather conditions. Adel Mushamar, director of Al-Maafer District, lauded the project as a "vital step to help IDPs and victims of war to stabilize back home". "It is a culmination of the efforts made by the local authority and executive unit, together with humanitarian partners," he said. According to UN reports, almost twenty million people in Yemen are in need of humanitarian aid.
The United States said on Wednesday that establishing an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations. The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday asked for renewed consideration of a 2011 application to become a full member of the United Nations. It currently has de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after the United Nations granted it the status of a non-member observer state in 2012
