British FM: Saudi-led Ops in Yemen Coming to Close

Local Editor

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond predicted that the Saudi-led military aggression against Yemen is nearing its end as the focus turns to political talks.

This comes as Hammond headed a delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday in which relations between both countries were discussed.

"We detect the military phase of this campaign is coming to a close as the coalition forces have established a dominant military position in the country," Hammond told reporters at a joint news conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir.

Hours earlier, the delegation held talks with King Salman and other members of the royal family. For his part, al-Jubeir told reporters "we're optimistic that the talks will lead somewhere." He added that the military action appeared to be heading towards a conclusion.

Hammond said further that the meeting focused on the need "for now accelerating the political discussion" and ensuring the Yemeni revolutionaries and their allies join negotiations for "serious and sensible" talks.

In a similar context, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told the Security Council on Friday that the Ansarullah group and backers of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had "clearly committed" to carrying out Resolution 2216.

The UN envoy said the Yemeni government of toppled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had agreed to send a delegation to the forthcoming negotiations, for which no date has been set.

It is worth mentioning that Yemen has been under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition since March. Thousands of Yemenis have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them being civilians.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team