Yemen's Ex-President Says Could Work with Russia to 'Fight Terrorism'
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A newly-formed governing council in Yemen could work with Russia to "fight terrorism" by allowing Moscow use of the country's military bases, Yemen's former president said.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former counter-terrorism ally of the US who was toppled by mass protests in 2011, told state-owned channel Russia 24 on Sunday that Yemen was ready to grant Moscow access to air and naval bases.
"In the fight against terrorism we reach out and offer all facilities. Our airports, our ports... We are ready to provide this to the Russian Federation," Saleh said in an interview in Sana’a, according to Reuters.
Officials from the party the ex-president heads now run a political council that controls much of the country along with the Houthi movement.
Russia is the only major country that maintains a diplomatic presence in Yemen where a 16-month war between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis has killed over 6,500 people and raised the prospect of famine in the Arab World's poorest country.
The war has allowed terrorists including al Qaeda and Daesh (ISIL) to flourish, even though the United States has for years launched drone strikes against groups in Yemen.
Russia abstained from a United Nations Security Council resolution in 2015 that imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis.
Moscow's relations with Yemen date back decades and until the break-up of the USSR, thousands of Soviet military advisers and trainers worked in the formerly-independent south.
On Saturday tens of thousands of Yemenis rallied in the capital to show support for the Houthi-led bloc as the head of the group's new governing council vowed to form a full government in the coming days.