Biden faces criticism over failed promise to end Yemen war after Saudi-led airstrikes kills dozens, including children

• New Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen killed dozens, including children.
• Biden, who pledged to take steps to end the Yemen war, is facing renewed criticism.

Last February, President Joe Biden declared that the war in Yemen "has to end." He added that the US would cease support for offensive operations in the war, including "relevant arms sales." A year later, US arms sales to Saudi Arabia have continued and critics accuse Biden of abandoning his pledge to help end the war.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen on Friday killed dozens, including children, according to aid groups, renewing criticism of Biden over US involvement. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a strike that hit a detention center in Saada killed at least 70, and Save the Children said a separate strike in the port town of Hodeida killed three children who were playing soccer.

"This is horrific news, further devastating Yemen. It's also a predictable consequence of continuing to arm Saudi Arabia," the Congressional Progressive Caucus tweeted. "The Biden administration must stop unauthorized participation in the Saudi war and bring its bombings and blockade to an end — as Congress has demanded."

"The Biden admin has condemned the Houthi actions roughly 13 times since taking office. Not one condemnation of Saudi bombings of Yemen though. Will it also not condemn this attack?" Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in a tweet.

Friday's airstrikes were seemingly a response to recent Houthi attacks in the UAE.

The Yemen war, which began in 2014, has fostered what has been widely described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The conflict, which is estimated to have killed over 100,000 people while displacing millions, has been fought between the Saudi-led coalition (including other countries in the region like the UAE) and Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Saudis have imposed an air and sea blockade throughout the war that has prevented humanitarian aid from getting in and catalyzed a devastating famine.

'America is complicit in this'

Biden during a press conference on Wednesday was asked how he planned to make good on his promise to end the war in Yemen. Taking a different tone on the issue than he did at the start of his tenure, Biden said, "Ending the war in Yemen takes the two parties to be involved to do it. And it's going to be very difficult." Biden's comments came just a month after his administration steered pushed an another sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia through Congress. The administration justified the $650 million arms sale by contending the weapons were for "defensive purposes."

The president on Wednesday also said that he was considering re-designating the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terror group. Biden removed the Trump-era designation early last year. But opponents of the move warn that it could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by making it harder for aid to get in.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who has been among the loudest voices in Congress calling for an end to US involvement in Yemen, in a tweet urged Biden against reimposing the terror designation.

"We need to help end the war in Yemen, not escalate it by re-imposing Trump's Houthi terror designation," Khanna said. "Humanitarian orgs have warned this would mean even higher food and fuel prices for millions of Yemeni civilians and wouldn't do anything to stop Houthi atrocities."

Since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi government, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Washington have pressed the US government to reevaluate relations with Riyadh and end support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The US has frequently sold arms to the Saudis, and US-made bombs have been involved in Saudi-led strikes that killed civilians.

But then-President Donald Trump, who defended the Saudis in the wake of the Khashoggi backlash, slapped down congressional efforts to end US involvement in Yemen. Biden vowed to take a different approach, but critics say he hasn't made good on this promise.

Spencer Ackerman, author of "Reign of Terror," in a Friday tweet on the latest airstrikes in Yemen said, "America is complicit in this, as it has been complicit in every Saudi or UAE airstrike of this horrific war that Biden and his senior officials once promised to end. I hope they see these children when they sleep at night."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.