Yemeni Lawmakers to Visit Several States Seeking to Stop Airstrikes

SANAA (Sputnik) — A delegation of Yemeni members of parliament is planning to visit a number of countries, including Egypt, the United States, Russia and Oman, seeking the suspension of the Saudi-led international coalition's military operation in Yemen, a source in the General People's Congress party told Sputnik on Friday.

According to the source, the delegation is planning to visit the UN headquarters in New York as well, as it hopes the UN will try to take the necessary political steps to find a political solution to the crisis and return conflicting sides to the negotiating table.

The delegation, headed by Abu Bakr Abdullah Qirbi, former Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs, will include a number of leaders of the National Alliance of parties. It has not been reported when the delegation will start its tour.

The alliance of opposition parties in Yemen consists of the party Islah, the Yemeni Socialist Party, the Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation and others.

The Shiite Houthi group, the main opposition force in Yemen, recently took control of the country's capital Sanaa, forcing the elected government and president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to resign. At the end of March, at the request of Hadi who by that time had fled Yemen, a group of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia launched missile strikes against the Houthis.