Top Biden aide meeting Saudi crown prince in Yemen: report

The White House announced on Monday that national security adviser Jake Sullivan will be traveling to the Middle East and meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reportedly discuss the civil war in Yemen.

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said that Sullivan will be traveling with National Security Council Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Brett McGurk and U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking.

“Mr. Sullivan will meet with senior leaders on a range of regional and global challenges,” Horne said in a statement.

One of these issues will be a potential cease fire between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen, The Associated Press reported. Sullivan will also be speaking with the crown prince’s brother, deputy defense minister Khalid bin Salman.

Sullivan will travel to Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh on Monday and then travel to the United Arab Emirates.

The AP noted that the Biden administration has largely avoided interacting with the prince since a CIA report was publicly released earlier this year stating that he likely approved the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

However, a senior administration official told the AP that the White House has decided that helping to end the conflict in Yemen would require direct communication with top officials.

Both of President Biden’s predecessors in the White House offered military support to Saudi Arabia, which is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seeking to take Yemen. However, soon after taking office in January, Biden announced he would be ending “offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.”