Mattis departure risks US policy void as Yemen pact falls apart
Day-to-day responsibility for managing the Yemen conflict is being passed on to John Rood, the Pentagon’s No. 3 official.
Just hours before the United Nations struck a Yemen cease-fire deal last month, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made a whirlwind series of calls to Arab leaders to help clinch a pact that he’d privately and publicly pressed for months.
His successor plans to take a less direct role in trying to settle the conflict.
As renewed clashes between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels threaten to wipe out the fragile truce in the key port city of Hodeidah, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has deputized John Rood, the department’s No. 3 official, to engage with the UN on Yemen, a senior defense official told Al-Monitor.
Mattis had remained focused on Yemen up until his last days at the Pentagon, helping to convince Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to concede to UN demands to stop the fighting, sources familiar with the talks say.
