The former president of Yemen has asked Russia to step in as a mediator in the settlement of the ongoing crisis in Yemen, a local news web portal reported on Wednesday.
According to the news web portal Ali Abdullah Saleh held talks on Wednesday with Russia’s envoy to the country.
“I call on Russia, which is a mighty power having influence and a broad spectrum of relations with other peaceful nations, to work on the adoption of a resolution in the UN Security Council regarding the halt of aggression against the Yemeni people, the lift-off of naval, air and ground blockade,” Saleh said.
Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement reiterated a denial on Thursday that it carried out failed missile attacks on a US navy destroyer, a news agency controlled by the group reported.
The Iranian-allied movement denied the attacks on the USS Mason came from areas under its control, but the United States may be drawing closer to a confrontation with Iran over involvement in Yemen’s civil war.
The Americans have said Houthi forces in Yemen backed by the Iranian government fired a missile on Wednesday at the USS Mason, which is stationed in the Red Sea. On Sunday, two missiles were fired at the same ship from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
The launches against the ship carrying around 330 sailors, are raising fears about how the US will respond. Pentagon officials say they were considering retaliatory measures, including a counterstrike.
In March Saudi Arabia, backed by the US, conducted a military air operation with the support of certain Arab states against the Houthi movement Ansar Allah. According to the UN, over 3 700 civilians were killed and more than 6 500 wounded in the fighting since March 2015.
The US and Iran have been fighting a proxy war of sorts in Yemen, after Iran-backed Houthi rebels overthrew the Yemeni government in September 2014.
The US joined a Saudi-led Arab military coalition in support of the ousted government, supplying intelligence, advice, and logistical support, including refueling of aircraft conducting strikes against the Houthis.
The Obama administration has come under increasing pressure from Democrats in Congress over the mounting civilian deaths in the Yemeni conflict.
In June 2014 at a Council on Foreign Relations event, retired Major General Anwar Eshki of Saudi Arabia had laid out the strategy. He was joined at the event by Ambassador Dore Gold of Israel. Eshki said:
“In the Arabian Peninsula, there is a promising oil field in the Empty Quarter [Rub’al-Khali] that will obligate the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen to cooperate to protect it and its gains. This unity will be modeled— or rather, must be modeled —on the US constitution that united America and granted it its democracy. As for the promising Ogaden [oil] field in Ethiopia, it will unite the Horn of Africa under Ethiopia’s leadership. And a bridge shall be built between the African continent and the Arabian Peninsula: The Al-Noor Bridge that shall connect the city of Al-Noor in Djibouti and the city of Al-Noor in Yemen”.
