UNITED NATIONS, Jan 13 – China said on Friday that it is seriously concerned about a rise in tensions in Yemen following the air strikes launched by the U.S. and the UK and called for all parties to exercise restraint to prevent further escalation.
Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal at a United Nations Security Council meeting requested by Russia.
“We call on all parties, especially influential powers, to stick to the right direction of dialogue and consultation and make concrete efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Red Sea and the Middle East,” he said.
The U.S. and UK launched air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday, in response to the group’s attacks on international ships in the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of the Yemeni Houthi rebel group held a rally in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Friday to protest the U.S.-Britain joint retaliatory airstrikes on the group’s camps.
The protesters demanded a response to Friday’s pre-dawn airstrikes that heavily bombed over 60 training sites and arms depots in several northern Yemeni cities.
“We support our leadership’s decision,” a Houthi commander shouted over the loudspeakers, and the protesters repeated his words.
In a defiant response, the Supreme Political Council, Houthi’s top ruling body, declared in a statement on Friday that “all American and British interests have become legitimate targets.”
The United States and Britain said they carried out the airstrikes to deter the Houthis from launching attacks on commercial ships in the international shipping lanes of the Red Sea, which threaten global trade and drive up the cost of commodities.
The Houthis have escalated their attacks in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct. 7, demanding the end of Israeli attacks and siege against the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.
