Yemen’s stability important for Red Sea security: Egypt

ISTANBUL

Egypt’s foreign minister said Monday that Yemen’s stability is important for security in the region and the Red Sea.

Speaking during a meeting in Cairo with Yemeni Foreign Minister Shaya Zindani, Badr Abdelatty affirmed Egypt’s “firm support for Yemen’s unity, institutions, independence, and territorial integrity,” an Egyptian Foreign Ministry readout said.

Yemen has fallen into violence since the Iran-backed Houthi group captured the capital Sanaa and much of the country in 2014 from the Yemeni government.

“Yemen’s security and stability are important for maintaining security and stability in the region and the Red Sea,” Abdelatty said.

The top diplomat underlined support for efforts aimed at reaching a comprehensive political solution to the Yemeni crisis, “in a way that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people and ends their humanitarian suffering," the statement said.

Tension has begun to ease in the Red Sea after a ceasefire agreement that halted Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 48,300 people were killed.

During the war, Yemen’s Houthi group carried out drone and missile attacks on Israeli cargo ships or ones linked with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea in a show of support for Gaza. The attacks have caused a sharp decline in the revenues of Egypt’s Suez Canal, a major source of foreign currency.

In late December, Egypt said the Suez Canal revenues had lost $7 billion during 2024 due to the Red Sea tension.