NEW DELHI, September 13. /TASS/. Russia will keep a close eye on the situation in Yemen, which is fraught with a major escalation, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"Let us wait and see how the situation develops. Now, it is seriously destabilized and is fraught with a major escalation. The most important thing now is to stabilize the situation," he said when asked by TASS whether Moscow plans to review its stance on which Yemeni government is to be considered legitimate.
The armed confrontation between the Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi rebels has been continuing in Yemen since August 2014. The situation deteriorated dramatically this summer. The Houthi rebels delivered a massive missile strike on the Red Sea port of Mokha on August 14, resulting in the port’s complete halt. In early September, the Houthis launched an offensive in the southwest of the country. Along with ground operations, the Houthis began delivering missile and drones strikes on the Red Sea coastal areas and the vicinity of the city of Taiz, seeking to cut off approaches to Mokha and advance toward areas adjacent to the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saria said on Friday that on September 3, the rebel movement Ansar Allah has launched an operation on Yemen’s western coast to push Saudi forces out of the region. In his words, it was prompted by "Saudi-backed attacks on people and villages on the western coast that have been continuing for years." The operation resulted in the Saudi forces being squeezed out of the Taiz and Hodeida governorates, from an area of 5,400 square kilometers, Saria stated.