Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland
Canada on Friday called on all parties to bring a permanent end to the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
“We deplore the ongoing violence, which has led to mass malnourishment, severe food insecurity, death and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis," Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in a joint statement.
The ministers said Canada has provided $130 million of life-saving humanitarian aid to affected communities since the beginning of the conflict in 2015.
"We remain deeply concerned by reports that all parties to the conflict have repeatedly contravened international law and have obstructed humanitarian assistance," they said.
Freeland and Bibeau also called for "rapid and unimpeded" access for humanitarian assistance, and urged all parties to the conflict to fully comply with international humanitarian law.
"Canada welcomes the important work of Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen, and fully supports efforts to resume talks toward a permanent and peaceful end to this conflict," the ministers added.
Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.
The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it attacked Sanaa International Airport and an adjoining airbase being used by Houthi insurgents, as the two warring sides also clashed further west in the country’s main port city.The violence broke out days after renewed U.S. calls for a ceasefire in the three-and-half-year war that the Saudi-backed government suggested it was ready to support.Houthi forces were using the airbase in the capital to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks, a coalition spokesman told Saudi state al-Ekhbaria TV on Friday.Flights and international aid efforts were not affected, Colonel Turki al-Malki said.Al-Masirah TV, which is controlled by the Houthis, said more than 30 air strikes targeted al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa and the surrounding areas.In the port of Hodeidah, fighting broke out early on Friday in a southern district, residents and military sources said.The coalition had massed thousands of troops near the city on Wednesday, in a move to pressure the Iran-aligned Houthis to return to U.N.-sponsored peace talks.The sources in Hodeidah said fighting was heard in areas near the airport and the university, and Apache helicopters were spotted in the sky.Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government have said coalition strikes were intensified on Thursday night on Houthi bases near the eastern entrance to the port city, which is a gateway to the capital, and in its southern part.Saudi prince disparaged Khashoggi in US calls: reportGermany hardening line on Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi
Saudi coalition in Yemen attacks Sanaa sites, clashes in Hodeidah