© AFP Photo/Mohammed HuwaisFILE: A Russian security guard stands near a plane that Moscow says is carrying 20 tons of aid, in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on November 5, 2015. The sides also discussed the development of Russian-Yemeni partnership in the trade-and-economic and humanitarian areas.
"The two diplomats exchanged views on the development of the situation in Yemen and the Red Sea," it said. "The sides stressed the necessity of the soonest de-escalation of tension in this strategically important region of the world and the need for efforts to prevent the spread of the armed confrontation. They reiterated the importance of consolidated efforts toward establishing an UN-brokered sustainable nationwide intra-Yemeni dialogue."
Comment: The possibility of that seems to be more likely than ever: Yemeni officials allied with West-UAE-Saudi coalition ditch 'UN recognised gov't' to join the defenders of Gaza
The sides also discussed the development of Russian-Yemeni partnership in the trade-and-economic and humanitarian areas, the ministry said, adding that the meeting was initiated by the Yemeni side.
Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. Since then, the United States and the United Kingdom have been regularly delivering strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Comment: Interestingly, this comes a few days after US intelligence 'sources' claimed that Russia was considering supplying Yemen with weapons, until Saudi Arabia allegedly called for them to reject the deal.
Russia did indeed say that it too would consider supplying friendly, allied nations with weapons, as the West is doing in Ukraine, and Israel, and a myriad of other places. But Russia never specified whether it had done so, nor its intentions.
Either way, it seems that Russia is creating the conditions whereby it can more directly work with Yemen, as China seems to be doing with its unity deal in Gaza, both of which may, ultimately, contribute to neutralising the diabolical forces in the region - or at least to be best prepared for the worst: Hamas and Fatah sign unity deal in Beijing aimed at unity in Gaza governance, blocking Israeli meddling