Yemen's Saleh offers to help Russia "fight terror"

Yemen's newly-formed governing council could help Russia "fight terrorism" by giving Moscow access to the country's military bases, Yemen's deposed president said Sunday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who assisted the US in its "War on Terror" prior to being ousted in 2011, told Russia's state-owned broadcaster Russia 265 of how the rebel council could assist Russia - the only major country currently maintaining a diplomatic presence in rebel-held Yemen - to "fight terror".

"In the fight against terrorism we reach out and offer all facilities. Our airports, our ports... We are ready to provide this to the Russian Federation," Saleh said in the interview from Yemen's captial Sanaa, which is currently under Houthi control.

At present, Russia is backing Syria's embattled president Bashar al-Assad by conducting airstrikes against what it says are terrorist targets in Syria. During this campaign, Russian bombardment has claimed numerous civilian lives, including those of children.

Some evidence also suggests that Russia was behind the airstrike that buried four-year-old Omran Daqneesh under his home and killed his brother. Russia has denied responsibility for the raid.

Lacking the power that he once had over Yemen as president, Saleh may not have the power to see through his offers to Moscow. However, his associates from the party he now heads sit on the political council that controls much of Yemen in partnership with the Houthi movement.

In 2015, Russia abstained from a United Nations Security Council resolution that imposed an arms embargo on the Houthi militants.

More recently, however, Russia was also among the G18 group of nations who condemned the Houthi show of force over the weekend, when tens of thousands descended on Yemen's capital to support the rebel movement.

The group's statement blasted the Houthis' "unconstitutional and unilateral actions in Sanaa," after the group's governing council said it would be forming a full government in the coming days.