Houthis wrap up meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing

A delegation representing Yemen’s Houthi rebel group announced this morning that they visited China for three days and have met several Chinese officials, after the Houthi spokesperson Mohamed Abdelsalam was sent an official invitation.

Pro-Houthi Yemeni news outlet Al-Massirah said the delegation today concluded a three-day visit to China in which the majority of the discussion with Chinese officials was based on the current war raging in Yemen.

The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry has called for a cessation of hostilities in the country and to work towards a political solution to the conflict, while the Houthi delegation thanked Beijing for its support.

The Houthi delegation met Department of West Asian and North African Affairs Director-General Deng Li to discuss the humanitarian, military and political situation in Yemen.

Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Houthi rebels allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition. Nearly 60,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict and more than three million have been displaced.