Months after the Saudi government pledged to single-handedly meet the United Nations’ (UN) “flash appeal” for humanitarian aid to Yemen, Riyadh is making it clear that the donation doesn’t come without strings attached.

On April 12, as the Saudi-led air campaign rained bombs over Yemen, the UN issued an emergency flash appeal calling for $274 million in aid for the country to address the increasingly dire humanitarian condition. Less than 24 hours later, the call was met entirely by the very government that was leading the attacks against Yemen.

This Arabic-language, M.I.A.-inspired Israeli girl band from the Negev desert is looking to become the Arab world's next pop superstar. History isn't on its side. [...] From the shisha-smoking old lady with kohl-lined eyes, to the Yemeni dance sequences and classically Arabic mournful undertones, “Habib Galbi” looks like it could be straight out of southern Arabia. And in some ways, it is: The song is sung in authentic Yemeni dialect and is composed from the lyrics of ancient Yemeni folk songs. 

A senior Iranian official says Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen and its prevention of the delivery of the Islamic Republic’s humanitarian aid to the war-wracked country will not go unanswered. “We consider all options for helping the Yemeni people and immediate dispatch of humanitarian aid and transfer of the injured,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday.

When President Obama meets at the White House Monday with crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, he’ll be in conversation with a small, deep-pocketed Persian Gulf country that has mastered the art of public diplomacy to practically re-engineer Hollywood’s perception of Arab culture.

The U.N. Security Council draft on Yemen last week was issued as a result of the exceptional diplomatic efforts of the ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Jordanian presidency of the U.N.

Turkey and Pakistan have turned to political dialogue in an attempt to resolve tensions surrounding the conflict in Yemen between Houthi militias and Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries. Turkey has been in close contact with regional and international powers to seek a solution in Yemen which includes all the country's parties, while not overshadowing its territorial integrity.

Turkey and Pakistan, two of the biggest military powers in the Muslim world, have launched a diplomatic initiative in an effort to prevent the conflict in Yemen from exploding into a regional one. (...) The intense series of consultation comes two weeks after a Saudi Arabia-led coalition launched a bombing campaign over Yemen aimed at halting Houthi advances.

Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to call for a "humanitarian pause" in airstrikes by a Saudi-led military coalition to help evacuate foreigners from Yemen and unhindered access to deliver aid to civilians caught in the fighting between Shiite rebels and supporters of the country's beleaguered president.