The US pointman on Yemen is heading to the region in hopes of preserving the delicate truce in the conflict-battered nation despite Houthi rebels’ recent attacks targeting Israel, the State Department has said.

Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, will travel this week to the Gulf. The State Department did not specify his dates or destinations but said he would be in touch with officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, as well as UN representatives.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the “provocative and dangerous attacks” by the rebels have “threatened almost two years of progress to end the war in Yemen”.

Lenderking “will emphasise the need to contain the Israel-Hamas conflict while pursuing the United States’ priority of Yemeni-Yemeni political dialogue to end the war and set Yemen on a firm course for peace and stability,” the State Department said in a separate statement.

“A wider conflict in the Middle East does not serve US interests nor those of our regional partners, who support a lasting peace in Yemen,” it said.