Saudi Arabia is struggling to end its war in Yemen

SIX YEARS have passed since Saudi Arabia declared victory in what it dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, the opening salvo of its war in Yemen. Yet the kingdom is still trying to find its way out of the squall. On March 22nd it offered a ceasefire to its opponent, the Houthis, a Shia militant group that seized control of the Yemeni government (and much of the country) in 2015. The Saudi proposal called for a nationwide truce and offered to ease the air and sea blockade it has imposed on Houthi-controlled territory. “We want the guns to fall totally silent,” said Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the foreign minister.The Houthis barely paused to consider the offer. Muhammad Abdulsalam, the chief Houthi negotiator, said the Saudi proposal contained nothing “serious or new”. He was half right: it was serious, but also a warmed-up version of a plan that had failed to win agreement during a year of negotiations. In case the verbal rejection was unclear, the Houthis then sent a drone across the border to attack the airport in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia. The kingdom remains stuck with an intractable dilemma: how do you convince your enemies to end a war they are winning?