Yemeni ambassador discusses Red Sea security with French lawmakers in Paris

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PARIS, France — Yemen’s ambassador to France met the head of the National Assembly’s French-Yemeni friendship group on Friday to discuss Red Sea security and bilateral cooperation.

Riad Yassin met Yaël Ménaché, who chairs the group, and Jocelyn Dessigny, another member of the National Assembly. The state news agency Saba reported the meeting.

The account of the meeting rests on Saba, which reports for the internationally recognised government, and on a notice published by the Yemeni foreign ministry. No independent confirmation of what was said has been published.

Ménaché represents the fifth constituency of the Somme department in northern France. Dessigny represents the second constituency of Aisne. Both sit in the lower house of the French parliament.

Yassin has represented Yemen in Paris for several years. He held the foreign affairs portfolio in the Yemeni government before taking the post.

The talks covered bilateral cooperation and developments in Yemen and the wider region, according to Saba.

Yassin raised what he described as Houthi threats to security in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait and international shipping, the agency reported.

He said Iranian support for the Houthis called for stronger international efforts against arms smuggling and financing networks, according to the same account.

The Houthis reject the description of themselves as an Iranian proxy and say their military decisions are their own. Iran denies supplying the movement with weapons.

Yassin thanked France for its support for the Yemeni government and for its part in protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, Saba reported. He did not specify which French measures he meant.

Yassin has held other meetings in Paris in recent months. The Yemeni foreign ministry has reported his talks with the friendship group on earlier occasions and his discussions on cultural cooperation with the Arab World Institute.

Ménaché said the group remained interested in strengthening relations with Yemen, according to the agency.

Both sides agreed to keep up contacts and to widen parliamentary and bilateral cooperation, Saba reported.

The Yemeni foreign ministry published its own notice of the meeting. It gave the same list of participants.

Friendship groups in the National Assembly bring together deputies with an interest in a particular country. They hold no formal role in French foreign policy and cannot bind the government.

The meeting follows months of fighting on Yemen’s western coast. Houthi forces took the Red Sea port of Mokha and the island of Mayyun in September, Al Jazeera reported.

Mokha lies near Bab al-Mandab, the strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries traffic bound for the Suez Canal. Anti-Houthi units backed by the United Arab Emirates had held the port since 2017.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, has asked member states to commit more warships to the Red Sea. France is among the states that would have to supply vessels under such a request.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, said on Thursday he was alarmed by intensified fighting, citing reports of casualties, damage to infrastructure and road closures.

Airstrikes hit Sanaa late on Thursday, residents told the German news agency DPA, hours after the Saudi-led coalition reported intercepting two ballistic missiles and four drones over southwestern Saudi Arabia. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported strikes in Saada, Amran and Taiz as well.

Fighting has also continued in Taiz governorate, where government forces and the Houthis have each reported clashes on several fronts. Neither side’s account of the fighting has been independently confirmed.

Masam, a Saudi-funded demining project, reported destroying 299 landmines and explosive remnants of war in Al-Dhale governorate over a recent clearance period.

Yemen’s cabinet approved steps this week toward carrying out a general mobilisation, part of the government’s response to the losses on the western coast.

The HALO Trust, a demining organisation, suspended mine clearance in Taiz and Mokha after the fighting on the western coast. It warned of risks to civilians returning to the area.

The government’s Executive Unit for displaced persons counted 23,550 families displaced by the latest round of fighting. The figure covers the period since the escalation began and has not been matched by an independent count.

The United Nations humanitarian plan for 2026 put the number of Yemenis needing aid at more than 22 million, with 18.3 million acutely food insecure. It counted 5.2 million people already displaced inside the country.

The plan recorded more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely. It sought 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million people.

Shipping companies have rerouted vessels away from the Red Sea since Houthi attacks on merchant traffic began in late 2023. The longer passage around the Cape of Good Hope adds time and cost to voyages between Asia and Europe.

France and Yemen have maintained diplomatic relations throughout the war. The Yemeni embassy in Paris has continued to operate on behalf of the internationally recognised government.

Saba did not say where in Paris the meeting was held, or how long it lasted. The National Assembly publishes the membership of its friendship groups on its website, along with the parliamentary roles each deputy holds.