Iran Condemns UAE Assault against Yemen's Key Port

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the UAE-led military strike against the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah which is used as a humanitarian corridor for sending relief aids to the people of Yemen.

News ID: 438276

Date: 15 June 2018 - 23:08

RNA - "The offensive could worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the Red Sea port city," Qassemi said.

Qassemi's remarks came after under the Saudi air cover, the Emirati-backed forces launched an offensive on Wednesday to capture Hudaydah from Yemen’s popular forces.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman reiterated that he crisis in Yemen has no military solution, and said, "Resorting to force would lead nowhere.”

Qassemi called for an end to the invasion of Yemen by the neighboring Saudi Arabia.

"Such crimes would kill the faint gleam of hope for the ongoing political efforts to bear fruit, and would merely complicate the conditions,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman added.

According to Fars News Agancy, the UAE-led assault went ahead despite numerous warnings by the international rights organizations and the United Nations, which has said the military action could cost up to 250,000 lives and trigger a humanitarian catastrophe there.

The Hudaydah assault is said to be the largest of its kind since the Saudi regime and its allies began the bloody campaign against Yemen in early 2015. It is spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates, a driving force in the Saudi-led alliance.

The Ansarullah and the allied Yemeni forces have vowed stiff resistance in the face of the military offensive. They destroyed an Emirati warship with missiles off the Yemeni coast on Wednesday, forcing a second battleship to flee the scene.

Yemen’s Red Sea Ports Corporation said that the Hudaydah port is operating normally despite the clashes near the city.

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