Moscow and Beijing have derided Washington’s illegal airstrike campaign against Yemen and the heavy militarization of the Red Sea to support Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza.
The Yemeni government has reassured Russian and Chinese officials that their ships can safely cross the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean without fear of attack, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.
The Chinese and Russian diplomats reportedly met in Oman with Mohammad Abdul Salam, the spokesman and chief negotiator for Yemen’s National Salvation Government (NSG), and “reached an understanding” about safe passage through the Red Sea and beyond.
“In exchange, the two countries may provide political support to [Yemen] in bodies such as the United Nations Security Council … It’s not entirely clear how that support would be manifested, but it could include blocking more resolutions against the group,” the US news outlet cites their sources as saying.
Since mid-November, the Yemeni armed forces have conducted dozens of attacks on Israeli-linked vessels attempting to transit the Bab al-Mandab Strait as part of a military campaign in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Sanaa expanded its operations to include US and UK-linked ships after the two NATO allies started to drop bombs in areas controlled by the NSG.
Concerns increased about the Red Sea crisis after the US militarized the key waterway in support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky and China’s UN envoy Geng Shuang have blasted the US for illegally bombing the Arab world’s poorest nation while failing to pressure Israel into accepting a diplomatic solution.