UN envoy for Yemen arrives in Iranian capital to discuss Yemeni conflict

Rasa - The United Nations (UN)’s Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has arrived in the Iranian capital, Tehran, to discuss the Yemeni conflict with Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

News ID: 431625

Date: 12 August 2017 - 21:43

RNA - Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Tehran on Saturday and would meet Minister Zarif and other officials, including Zarif’s deputy for Arab and African affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, later in the day, according to ISNA.

This is Cheikh Ahmed’s second visit to Iran.

Yemen has been facing war by a Saudi-led coalition since March 2015. Leading a number of its vassal states, Saudi Arabia launched the military aggression on Yemen to eliminate the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall a Riyadh-friendly former president. The war, however, has failed to achieve either of the goals, morphing into a protracted conflict and causing a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

UN-brokered talks between Yemen’s warring sides have also failed to end the conflict so far.

Iran has repeatedly called for a swift end to the brutal Saudi-led military campaign.

The war has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis.

The US and the UK have been providing the bulk of the weapons used by the Saudi-led forces against Yemen. The US is also providing other assistance, including the provision of intelligence, to the invading forces.

The aggression has been accompanied by a Saudi-led naval and aerial blockade on Yemen.

It has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s infrastructure and led to a cholera epidemic in the country. Almost 2,000 people have died since the outbreak of the cholera epidemic in April, according to the latest figures provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).

An estimated 70 percent of Yemen’s 28 million population is said to be in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

Earlier this week, Yemen’s blood bank appealed to the international community to support the center as its “medical supplies have nearly run out.”

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