UN, US urge restraint in Yemen after drone attack
WASHINGTON: The United States and United Nations voiced alarm over the escalation of violence in Yemen and urged restraint after a rebel drone attack on the country’s largest airbase killed six loyalist soldiers.
The United States, which supports the Saudi-led coalition against the Huthi rebels, said it “strongly condemns” the strike on a military parade at Al-Anad air base.
The attack, which killed six and wounded at least 12 people, came a month after the warring sides agreed at talks in Sweden on a truce in the rebel-held port of Hodeida.
“This attack contravenes the spirit of the Hodeida ceasefire and the progress made last month at the UN-led talks in Sweden,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.
“We urge all sides to honour the commitments they made in Sweden to their fellow Yemenis by refrain- ing from violence and provocative acts,” he said.
UN envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said separately that he was “alarmed” by the drone attack, which came as he was hoping for further progress in negotiating an end to the war.
In tweets, he urged “all parties to the conflict to exercise restraint and refrain from further escalation” and to “create a conducive environment to maintain the positive momentum generated” in Sweden.
The United Arab Emirates, a key contributor to the Saudi-led military coalition, called on the international community to pressure the Huthi rebels and blamed them for the slow progress of peace efforts.
The “murderous drone attack tells you everything you need about the Huthis. Peace negotiations are a tactic to them, not a commitment,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.