Iranian, Russian Diplomats Discuss Syria, Yemen Crises
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian foreign minister’s special assistant for political affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, held talks with a high-ranking delegation from Russia on a host of issues, including the latest developments in war-hit countries of Syria and Yemen.
In the meeting, held in Tehran on Monday, Jaberi Ansari and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin exchanged views about the ongoing crises in Syria and Yemen.
During the four-hour session, issues related to the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, the Idlib situation and the United Nations’ efforts to launch Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue were discussed.
Iran and Russia have remained close allies of Syria in a civil war that began in 2011 and have supported its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.
Tehran insists that the Syrian nation is the only side that has the right to shape the future of its own country, rejecting foreign intervention with the use of force.
Yemen’s defenseless people have also been under massive attacks by a coalition led by the Saudi regime for more than three-and-a-half years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and the accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.
