Russia and China have expressed their concerns over the situation in West Asia after the United States and Britain conducted an attack on Yemen in support of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
“The US air strikes on Yemen are another example of the Anglo-Saxons’ perversion of UN Security Council resolutions,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram on Friday.
She stressed that the strikes showed a “complete disregard for international law” and were “escalating the situation in the region” with the aim of attaining “destructive” objectives.
Moscow also called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to discuss the situation.
Zakharova slammed the strikes as “irresponsible actions” by the US and its allies.
“A large-scale military escalation in the Red Sea region could strike out the positive trends that have emerged recently in the Yemeni settlement process, as well as provoke a destabilization of the situation” in West Asia, she told reporters later on Friday.
“We share the concerns expressed by our regional partners, in particular from Saudi Arabia,” Zakharova said.
Riyadh has urged restraint and “avoiding escalation” after the attack and said it was monitoring the situation with great concern.
China also said it is “concerned”, calling for protecting the “security and stability” of the Red Sea. “China is concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea,” the country’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
“We urge the relevant parties to keep calm and exercise restraint, to prevent the conflict from expanding,” she added.
Beijing also stressed that the “Red Sea region is an important passage for international logistics and the energy trade”.
“We hope that the relevant parties can all play a constructive and responsible role in protecting the regional security and stability of the Red Sea, in line with the international community’s shared interests,” Mao said.
The US and Britain launched airstrikes on several provinces across Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and Hudaydah, in the early hours of Friday in response to the Yemeni strikes on vessels linked to the Israeli regime, which has waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 23,469 Palestinians and injured nearly 60,000 others.
In solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.
The US has formed a multinational military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.
