Tareq Saleh holds farewell video call with France’s departing ambassador to Yemen
Yemen Herald News 
MOKHA, Yemen — A member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council held a farewell video call on Wednesday with France’s departing ambassador, the state news agency said.
Lt. Gen. Tareq Saleh spoke with Catherine Corm-Kammoun, France’s ambassador to Yemen, as her posting drew to a close, according to Saba.
The two reviewed developments in Yemen and the wider region.
They also discussed what Saba called the continuing escalation by the Houthi movement and its consequences. The agency used the government’s terminology; the Houthis reject that characterisation and describe their operations as a response to Israeli and Western action.
The call turned to the work of Yemen’s naval forces and coast guard against arms and drug smuggling, and to the security of shipping lanes, the agency said.
Saba gave no further detail of what was said.
The account of the call rests on Saba, the news agency of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. No independent confirmation has been published, and neither the French embassy nor the European External Action Service has issued a readout.
Corm-Kammoun was appointed by a French decree dated Sept. 13, 2023, and took up the post at the end of that month as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Yemen.
She had previously served as France’s consul general in Jeddah, and holds the rank of senior secretary of foreign affairs in the French diplomatic service.
France’s embassy to Yemen is accredited to Sanaa, where its premises are closed. Like several Western missions, it has operated from Riyadh.
In an interview published by the European External Action Service, Corm-Kammoun argued that empowering women was necessary for a lasting peace in Yemen.
She travelled to Hadramawt during her posting to discuss cooperation and support for development programmes, Yemen Monitor reported.
France has kept up contact with the government through the summer. Saba reported on Aug. 31 that Saudi Arabia and France restated support for the Presidential Leadership Council and condemned Houthi attacks on shipping.
France is one of the European contributors to the naval mission protecting merchant shipping in the region. The European Union extended the mandate of Operation Aspides to Feb. 28, 2027, in a decision announced in February.
The Council set a financial reference amount of close to 15 million euros for the operation’s common costs over that year.
Aspides has a defensive remit. It accompanies and protects merchant vessels and builds maritime situational awareness, and does not strike targets on land.
The operation was created in response to threats against merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and surrounding waters.
France has rotated frigates through the mission, with the FS Forbin among the ships assigned. It committed two frigates in support of escorts through the Strait of Hormuz, USNI News reported in March.
The French air-defence frigate Chevalier Paul rescued the crew of the Greek-flagged tanker Sounion and destroyed an explosive uncrewed surface vessel approaching it.
Western navy chiefs said in March that the Red Sea crisis had reinforced the need for readiness at sea, Naval News reported.
Tareq Saleh has sat on the eight-member council since it was formed in April 2022. He is a nephew of the late president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
He commands the National Resistance Forces, also known as the Guards of the Republic, which hold the Red Sea coast around Mokha.
Coastal units under his command have carried out much of the recent interdiction work in the Bab al-Mandab area, according to accounts of those operations.
The National Resistance Forces announced a seizure of 750 tonnes of Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis, which U.S. Central Command described as the largest such seizure.
Yemeni forces have also intercepted a dhow carrying drone components said to be bound for the Houthis, and engaged uncrewed explosive boats near government-held islands, Arab News reported.
The coast guard detained four smugglers in January and seized about a quarter of a tonne of amphetamines and hashish, in an operation reported at the time by maritime trade press.
That seizure formed part of a joint security campaign along the southern coastline led by Brig. Gen. Hamdi Shukri al-Subaihi.
In October 2025 the coast guard stopped a small boat carrying 139 bags of narcotic pills concealed in thermal packaging.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime published an account in June of Yemeni efforts to disrupt drug trafficking in the Red Sea.
Bab al-Mandab, the strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping passages and has been a focus of Western naval deployments since Houthi attacks on merchant vessels began.
The Presidential Leadership Council was formed in April 2022, when President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi transferred his powers to it. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the body.
The council and the government held a joint meeting on Wednesday chaired by al-Alimi, with Tareq Saleh among those attending, Saba reported.
Mokha lies on the Red Sea coast in Taiz governorate.
Saba did not say who else took part in Wednesday’s call, or name Corm-Kammoun’s successor.
In a separate report on Wednesday the agency said Tareq Saleh had sent condolences to the adviser and parliamentarian Abdulrazzaq al-Hajri.
Saba published its account of the call on Wednesday evening. The agency filed its report from Mokha.
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