[10/09/2026 05:28]

RIYAHD - SABA
His Excellency President Dr. Rashad l-Alimi, Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) received today, Thursday, the Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation, Patrick Simonnet and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Jennette Seppen.

The meeting aimed to discuss aspects of bilateral cooperation, as well as local developments and regional issues of mutual interest.

The President highly appreciated the EU's supportive stance towards the PLC and the government, as well as Yemen's security and stability, and efforts to achieve peace and ease human suffering.

The President also highlighted the recent European positions condemning Houthi escalation and attacks on civilians and civilian facilities, noting that the current developments make the partnership between Yemen and the EU more important, not just for Yemen, but also for the security of the Red Sea, navigation and international trade.

The President briefed the head of the EU Mission and the Dutch Ambassador on the developments of the recent events, amid the escalation of hostile operations by the Houthi terrorist militia, especially towards Bab al-Mandeb and the fronts of the western coast of Taiz governorate.

President al-Alimi confirmed that the state will not back down from fulfilling the aspirations of the Yemeni people, and will continue to carry out its responsibility to protect its citizens, restore its institutions, extend its authority over all its territory and safeguard its coasts, ports, and territorial waters.

The Chairman of the PLC made it clear that Yemen, while defending the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, its coasts and its territorial waters, and making sacrifices to protect them, is not only defending its own security and sovereignty but also contributing to international security and global interests, ensuring the security of one of the most important maritime routes for trade, energy supplies and life-saving food products.

He stressed that this shared responsibility requires a more effective international partnership to support the Yemeni state and its capacity to protect this strategic passage.

His Excellency pointed out the clear link between this escalation and Iran's broader pressure strategy, which aims to make the cost of international pressure on Iran transferable to others by targeting neighboring countries, threatening energy facilities and threatening the Red Sea and supply chains, effectively turning Iran’s crisis with the international community into a crisis for the region and the global economy.

Al-Alimi avowed not to allow Bab al-Mandeb to become another Hormuz, or turning Yemen into a geopolitical blackmail platform on behalf of the Iranian regime.

The Chairman of the PLC confirmed that the government did not start this round of the war; rather, it was the militias that decided to return to escalation by operating unauthorized flights, attacking civilians, IDP camps, al-Mocha port, and civilian facilities in an attempt to impose new military realities.

"That’s why we don’t want the international community to revert to the usual formula that calls on both sides to exercise restraint as if the responsibility is equal", al-Alimi said, adding " Whoever started the escalation should be named, and whoever attacks should bear responsibility for the escalation and its consequences at all levels."

The President also called for urgent European action alongside the United Nations and donors to provide shelter, food, healthcare, and services for the internally displaced people IDP) and to support local authorities, so that thousands of Yemenis do not find themselves once again facing a new wave of displacement while the international community only issues statements of concern.

He also reiterated the need to move from managing the threat to addressing its source, through effective implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions and tightening measures to prevent the smuggling of weapons, technology, and military-use components to the militias.

A competent state and a functioning government is the real guarantee for peace; because peace based on the state's weakness and militias keeping their weapons, and the decision of war just becomes a truce until the next round, al-Alimi remarked.

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