India has expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, which is facing a barrage of attacks by Houthis that have claimed the life of an Indian.
“India stands in complete solidarity with the government and people of Saudi Arabia in defence of their sovereignty,” India's Permanent Representative P. Harish said on Thursday.
“The escalation in hostilities in the region is deeply worrying,” he said during the Security Council's quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East.
“We call for restraint and de-escalation in what has developed into a principal challenge facing the international community today,” he said.
Without naming the Houthis, who are behind the attacks, he said, “We strongly condemn repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including Saudi airports in the past few days”.
This “has led to the loss of precious lives, including that of an Indian citizen Mr Mohammad Yousef Ali in Riyadh,” he said.
Ali, an IT engineer from Hyderabad, was killed on Saturday while on a pilgrimage to Islam's holy site in the attack on the Riyadh airport.
The Houthis are a powerful Yemeni rebel group aligned with Iran that is fighting the internationally recognised government of Yemen, and is taking the fight to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which backs the government.
“India reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Yemen and rejection of any interference in its internal affairs,” he said.
While the Strait of Hormuz is already a hot zone with attacks on shipping and the consequent choke on energy supplies, the Houthis have opened a new front on the Red Sea.
Harish said, “The protection of the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Southern Red Sea is a shared international responsibility and is a global interest.”
“We strongly condemn attacks on maritime navigation and on the seafarers, many of whom are Indian citizens”, he said.
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