Local Editor

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen, urging political dialog to end the fighting there as Saudi-led airstrikes continue unabated. 

Reynders, who is on an official visit to Iran, made the remark during a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Iran’s capital of Tehran.

Responding to a question about the Saudi military aggression against Yemen, Reynders said that the goal is to bring about a ceasefire and get all political actors in the country to the negotiating table.

"There is no military solution whatsoever to the conflict in Yemen", the Belgian foreign minister said.

Yemen has been under deadly military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March. 

A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country since March 26.

The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].

The aggression began in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Human rights groups as well as international organizations have voiced deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen, calling for an end to the conflict.

Over 2,615 civilians have been killed in the conflict in the last six months, according to the UN. Yet, other organizations put the death toll at much higher.

According to the Yemeni health ministry, the death toll from the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen so far is more than 6,000, adding that 1,277 of those killed were children.

The Belgian minister arrived in Tehran on Sunday on a two-day visit. 

Earlier on Monday, he met with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.