Russia and China have denounced as illegal the strikes by the United States and United Kingdom against targets in Yemen, saying they were not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.
For the past several weeks, the US and Britain have been leading a bombing campaign against Yemen, which has declared its open support for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip against Israel’s brutal war on the territory since October 7.
The strikes were conducted in response to a raft of operations by the Yemeni Armed Forces against Israeli ships in the Red Sea or ships bound for the occupied territories.
During a UNSC meeting on Wednesday, US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood and UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward claimed that the attacks by the Yemeni army were illegal and that the US-UK strikes against the Arab country were “proportionate and legal action.”
However, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky and China’s UN envoy Zhang Jun argued that the UN Security Council never authorized military action against Yemen.
UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, for his part, said that US-UK attacks and the US designation of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement as a “Specially Designated Terrorist Group” are “concerning.”
Russia’s Polyansky stressed that the root cause of the current situation is Israel’s military offensive in Gaza which has provoked a chain reaction in West Asia, including by the Yemenis.
“An immediate ceasefire in Gaza will help to stabilize the situation in the Red Sea, and the de-escalation in those waters will in turn unblock the efforts of the special envoy, Mr. Grundberg,” Polyansky added.
The Chinese envoy also voiced concern over the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea region, particularly the “continued military operations by certain nations” against Yemen.
Zhang further called for an immediate cessation of hostilities by the Yemenis against commercial shipping and underscored the fact that the Security Council has not sanctioned any use of force against Yemen.
“At this critical moment, China hopes that all parties in Yemen will prioritize the interests of the people, show determination, eliminate interference, and firmly advance the political process to achieve final results,” he added.
Zhang also stressed that the “most urgent task is to immediately promote a ceasefire in Gaza and take responsible actions to prevent further regional escalation.”
Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 28,576 people and wounded 68,291 others, come to an end.
