Al-Arabiya, Saudi Arabia, April 11
In an urgent meeting held last week, Russia submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen – citing the growing death toll in the battles. But what is it that Russia really wants? Seemingly, Russia’s concerns can be justified. But two things bring me to question its motives: first, Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen is a clear act of self-defense. That Kingdom didn’t ask for this war; it was imposed upon the Saudis. Second, if Russia really cared about civilian deaths, then it wouldn’t have backed, for the last four years, Assad’s regime in Syria. Today, thousands of Syrian deaths can be attributed to Russian weapons and machinery. Why, then, does it become so concerned with human lives when it comes to Yemen? Russia knows the region very well. It has been a longtime supporter of Yemen; due to the access it offered the Soviets to the port of Aden and to strategic shipping routes. In 1964, Yemen and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to strengthen their bilateral trade and security cooperation. Soviet, and later, Russian consultants have been present in Yemen for decades. Russia is eager to remain involved in Yemeni politics. It is eager to re-establish its presence in the Middle East – even at the price of backing the expansionist Mullah regime in Iran. – Kheir Allah Kheir Allah