Military intervention in Yemen unacceptable: Iraq FM

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has condemned the ongoing Saudi airstrikes against members of the Houthi Ansarullah movement in Yemen as “unacceptable.” 

During a meeting with visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi in Baghdad on Wednesday evening, Jaafari stated that his country is strongly opposed to Riyadh’s onslaught against crisis-ridden Yemen, and considers it a duty to express such stance. 

The Iraqi foreign minister further noted that Baghdad had earlier rejected the use of force in Yemen, and said military intervention by Saudi Arabia would complicate the situation. 

"Iraq expresses its concern at the military intervention in Yemeni affairs, which leads to complicating the situation further," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on March 26. 

The statement added, "Our stance is to reject the use of force and to call on all Yemeni sides to put their differences behind through serious discussion." 

Sarmadi, for his part, stressed the need for transparent stances from world countries as well as rational initiatives in order to stop the aggression and bloodshed in Yemen. 

The two senior officials also urged world countries and international organizations to honor their humanitarian commitments, and deliver medical supplies to crisis-stricken Yemenis.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iraqi Parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri and Sarmadi voiced concerns over the critical situation in Middle East and the potential outcomes of the Saudi military strikes against Yemen.

The two sides also called for a cessation of the vicious airborne assaults, the resumption of dialogue among all Yemeni political factions, and the resolution of the crisis in Yemen by peaceful methods.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign in Yemen started on March 26 in a bid to restore power to fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by the Houthi Ansarullah movement. 

On March 25, the embattled president fled Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base, to Riyadh after Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced on Aden. 

The Ansarullah fighters took control of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, in September 2014 and are currently moving southward. The revolutionaries said the Hadi government was incapable of properly running the affairs of the country and containing the growing wave of corruption and terror. 

The Saudi air raids that entered their seventh day on Wednesday have so far claimed the lives of nearly 200 people, including 62 children. 

MP/AS/MHB

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